Elastic Search Results Object has unexpected side effects #4628

New issue

Open

opened 2026-02-20 16:20:53 -05:00 by deekerman · 0 comments

deekerman commented

2026-02-20 16:20:53 -05:00

Owner

Originally created by @JimMackin on GitHub (Oct 7, 2021).

Issue

lib/Search/SearchResults.php:getHitsAsBeans() loops around the results of the Global Search and converts the results to beans. If it finds a hit that isn't a valid bean however it attempts to reindex Elastic search. There's a few issues with this:

SearchResults is, presumably, a generic results object - we shouldn't assume Elastic Search here. At the least we should use some kind of dependency injection and/or subclasses.
This reindex can take a long time. This means that if a bean is removed and the logic hook to update the index doesn't trigger then searches that include this bean will be slow or timeout - especially with larger datasets.
~~The reindex doesn't actually update the index to remove the missing bean so this doesn't even fix the problem. The code then throws an exception anyway.~~ Actually no longer sure if this is correct. If the reindex is successful it should remove the record in the index provided it's been modified recently.

Expected Behavior

Searching should be quick and free from side effects.

Actual Behavior

Searching may trigger a reindex which often means the search doesn't finish

Possible Fix

Adding a continue statement for missing beans is probably a good, quick fix, it's not it's responsibility to maintain the index. If it is felt that searches should alter the index then a more appropriate class should send a request to elastic search marking that bean as removed.

Steps to Reproduce

On an instance with Elastic Search ensure that the DB is at least partially indexed
Remove a bean from the DB
Perform a search that would include that bean
The search will timeout or fail

Context

Trying to search a DB of ~4 million contacts fails on live.

Your Environment

SuiteCRM Version used: 7.11.22
Browser name and version (e.g. Chrome Version 51.0.2704.63 (64-bit)): Firefox 93
Environment name and version (e.g. MySQL, PHP 7): MySQL, PHP 7.4
Operating System and version (e.g Ubuntu 16.04): Ubuntu 18.04

Originally created by @JimMackin on GitHub (Oct 7, 2021).    #### Issue   `lib/Search/SearchResults.php:getHitsAsBeans()` loops around the results of the Global Search and converts the results to beans. If it finds a hit that isn't a valid bean however it attempts to reindex Elastic search. There's a few issues with this: - SearchResults is, presumably, a generic results object - we shouldn't assume Elastic Search here. At the least we should use some kind of dependency injection and/or subclasses. - This reindex can take a long time. This means that if a bean is removed and the logic hook to update the index doesn't trigger then searches that include this bean will be slow or timeout - especially with larger datasets. - ~The reindex doesn't actually update the index to remove the missing bean so this doesn't even fix the problem. The code then throws an exception anyway.~ Actually no longer sure if this is correct. If the reindex is successful it should remove the record in the index provided it's been modified recently. #### Expected Behavior  Searching should be quick and free from side effects. #### Actual Behavior   Searching may trigger a reindex which often means the search doesn't finish #### Possible Fix  Adding a continue statement for missing beans is probably a good, quick fix, it's not it's responsibility to maintain the index. If it is felt that searches should alter the index then a more appropriate class should send a request to elastic search marking that bean as removed. #### Steps to Reproduce   1. On an instance with Elastic Search ensure that the DB is at least partially indexed 2. Remove a bean from the DB 3. Perform a search that would include that bean 4. The search will timeout or fail #### Context   Trying to search a DB of ~4 million contacts fails on live. #### Your Environment  * SuiteCRM Version used: 7.11.22 * Browser name and version (e.g. Chrome Version 51.0.2704.63 (64-bit)): Firefox 93 * Environment name and version (e.g. MySQL, PHP 7): MySQL, PHP 7.4 * Operating System and version (e.g Ubuntu 16.04): Ubuntu 18.04