diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 706fd07f..ebf869bc 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,2 +1,3 @@
 .idea
 .vscode
+.DS_Store
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index 445db324..5becb2d4 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -1,29 +1,44 @@
 image: registry.gitlab.com/openstapps/projectmanagement/builder
 
+default:
+  tags:
+    - docker
+
 stages:
+  - test
   - publish
 
-publish:version:
+image build:
+  stage: test
+  variables:
+    DOCKER_DRIVER: overlay2
+  services:
+    - docker:dind
+  script:
+    - export CI_ES_VERSION=$(sed -n '/FROM elasticsearch/p' Dockerfile | cut -d ":" -f 2)
+    - docker login -u gitlab-ci-token -p $CI_BUILD_TOKEN $CI_REGISTRY
+    - docker build -t $CI_REGISTRY_IMAGE:$CI_ES_VERSION .
+    - docker tag $CI_REGISTRY_IMAGE:$CI_ES_VERSION $CI_REGISTRY_IMAGE:latest
+  only:
+    - branches
+
+main:
   stage: publish
   variables:
     DOCKER_DRIVER: overlay2
   services:
     - docker:dind
   script:
-    - export CI_BUILD_SEM_VERSION=$(echo -n "$CI_BUILD_REF_NAME" | cut -c 2-)
+    - export CI_ES_VERSION=$(sed -n '/FROM elasticsearch/p' Dockerfile | cut -d ":" -f 2)
     - docker login -u gitlab-ci-token -p $CI_BUILD_TOKEN $CI_REGISTRY
-    - docker build -t $CI_REGISTRY_IMAGE:$CI_BUILD_SEM_VERSION .
-    - docker tag $CI_REGISTRY_IMAGE:$CI_BUILD_SEM_VERSION $CI_REGISTRY_IMAGE:latest
+    - docker build -t $CI_REGISTRY_IMAGE:$CI_ES_VERSION .
+    - docker tag $CI_REGISTRY_IMAGE:$CI_ES_VERSION $CI_REGISTRY_IMAGE:latest
     - docker push $CI_REGISTRY_IMAGE:latest
-    - docker push $CI_REGISTRY_IMAGE:$CI_BUILD_SEM_VERSION
+    - docker push $CI_REGISTRY_IMAGE:$CI_ES_VERSION
   only:
-    - /v[0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+/
-  except:
-    - branches
-  tags:
-    - docker
+    - main
 
-publish:branch:
+develop:
   stage: publish
   variables:
     DOCKER_DRIVER: overlay2
@@ -34,7 +49,4 @@ publish:branch:
     - docker build -t $CI_REGISTRY_IMAGE:$CI_BUILD_REF_NAME .
     - docker push $CI_REGISTRY_IMAGE:$CI_BUILD_REF_NAME
   only:
-    - /(^master$|^develop$)/
-  tags:
-    - docker
-
+    - develop
diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 54e54f49..defd70e5 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -1,7 +1,8 @@
-FROM elasticsearch:5.6-alpine
+FROM elasticsearch:8.4.2
+
+EXPOSE 9200
+EXPOSE 9300
 
-# log4j2
-RUN echo "-Dlog4j2.formatMsgNoLookups=true" >> /usr/share/elasticsearch/config/jvm.options
 
 ADD config/ /usr/share/elasticsearch/config/
 
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 1ecad4b1..212018d4 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -1,13 +1,13 @@
 # Database docker image
-[![pipeline status](https://img.shields.io/gitlab/pipeline/openstapps/database.svg?style=flat-square)](https://gitlab.com/openstapps/database/commits/master)
+[![pipeline status](https://img.shields.io/gitlab/pipeline/openstapps/database.svg?style=flat-square)](https://gitlab.com/openstapps/database/commits/main)
 [![license)](https://img.shields.io/badge/license-GPL--3.0--only-lightgrey.svg)](https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.en.html)
 
-The used database is Elasticsearch 5.6.x. This images is based on
-[elasticsearch:5.6](https://hub.docker.com/r/library/elasticsearch/) from the
+The used database is Elasticsearch 8.4.x. This images is based on
+[elasticsearch:8.4](https://hub.docker.com/r/library/elasticsearch/) from the
 [offical Docker Library project](https://docs.docker.com/docker-hub/official_repos/) and uses openjdk:8-jre-alpine as a
 base image.
 
-Additionally the [ICU Analysis Plugin](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/plugins/5.6/analysis-icu.html) is
+Additionally the [ICU Analysis Plugin](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/plugins/8.4/analysis-icu.html) is
 installed to provide unicode collation which is used for sorting.
 
 ## Usage for testing purposes:
@@ -18,5 +18,5 @@ Currently there is an issue with elasticsearch and java on linux machines that t
 To set it permanently, you will have to add it to `/etc/sysctl.conf` on machines that run systemd as a init deamon.
 
 ## For production use:
-Please set `vm.max_map_count=262144` permanently. It is explained [here](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/5.6/docker.html#docker-cli-run-prod-mode)
+Please set `vm.max_map_count=262144` permanently. It is explained [here](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/8.4/docker.html#docker-prod-prerequisites)
 
diff --git a/config/elasticsearch.yml b/config/elasticsearch.yml
index e6ebf49c..dbae1e8b 100644
--- a/config/elasticsearch.yml
+++ b/config/elasticsearch.yml
@@ -1,7 +1,5 @@
-network.host: 0.0.0.0
-
-# this value is required because we set "network.host"
-# be sure to modify it appropriately for a production cluster deployment
-discovery.zen.minimum_master_nodes: 1
-bootstrap.system_call_filter: false
-
+bootstrap.memory_lock: true
+discovery.type: "single-node"
+cluster.routing.allocation.disk.threshold_enabled: false
+network.bind_host: 0.0.0.0
+xpack.security.enabled: false