Elasticsearch 6.5.0, based on Lucene 7.5.0, introduces several key features and improvements across various areas, including cross-cluster replication, minimal snapshots, SQL/ODBC enhancements, search use cases, JDK 11 support, security, and machine learning. The new cross-cluster replication feature allows data replication across clusters, enhancing multi-datacenter systems' efficiency. Minimal snapshots reduce storage space by up to 50% by storing only essential information for recovery. The release also includes an initial ODBC driver for Windows, expanding SQL capabilities and integration with BI tools. Enhanced search functionalities introduce scriptable token filters and a new annotated_text type for NLP applications. Elasticsearch now supports JDK 11 and the G1 garbage collector, addressing previous issues with large heaps. Security improvements feature authorization realms and a new structured audit logging format, while machine learning updates refine anomaly scoring and introduce multi-bucket analysis, alongside an experimental find file structure API for better data ingestion.