Elasticsearch for Apache Hadoop 2.2 RC1 has been released, marking a significant step towards its general availability, with numerous bug fixes and enhancements introduced. This release candidate offers support for Spark 1.6, optimizing performance by skipping redundant filters and improving push-down translation, particularly with IN filters. Enhancements to Spark SQL include better handling of multi-valued and array fields, and improvements in connector configuration, addressing issues with discarded command line properties. Updates to the YARN module involve upgrading to Elasticsearch 2.1.x and allowing JVM system properties to be passed in children containers. The repository HDFS plugin is undergoing significant changes to align with Elasticsearch's security improvements, with a migration to Elasticsearch core planned for version 2.3. Network improvements address varied topologies, enhancing the handling of Elasticsearch clusters, and reducing configuration requirements for users. The developers invite feedback through various platforms, looking forward to further developments in 2016.