diff --git a/.github/workflows/workflow.yml b/.github/workflows/workflow.yml
index 92ed4c3ce..4c13e08be 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/workflow.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/workflow.yml
@@ -118,10 +118,10 @@ jobs:
             --ssh-key-values ${{ secrets.DEV_PUB_KEYS }} && \
             export NEW_IP=$(az vm list-ip-addresses --name "${{ env.STAGE }}-${{ env.NAME }}-${{ env.NEW_COLOUR }}" --resource-group "${{ env.STAGE }}-${{ env.NAME }}-${{ env.NEW_COLOUR }}" --query [].virtualMachine.network[].publicIpAddresses[][].ipAddress --output tsv) && \
             echo "NEW_IP=$NEW_IP" >> $GITHUB_ENV && \
-            az postgres server firewall-rule update \
+            az postgres flexible-server firewall-rule update \
             --resource-group "${{ secrets.DEV_PSQL_RESOURCE_GROUP }}" \
-            --server-name "${{ secrets.DEV_PSQL_NAME }}" \
-            --name "${{ env.STAGE }}-${{ env.NAME }}-${{ env.NEW_COLOUR }}" \
+            --name "${{ secrets.DEV_PSQL_NAME }}" \
+            --rule-name "${{ env.STAGE }}-${{ env.NAME }}-${{ env.NEW_COLOUR }}" \
             --start-ip-address $NEW_IP \
             --end-ip-address $NEW_IP && \
             az network nsg rule create \
@@ -186,20 +186,12 @@ jobs:
             --name "${{ env.STAGE }}-${{ env.NAME }}-${{ env.NEW_COLOUR }}" \
             --command-id RunShellScript \
             --scripts "\
-              docker network create iati-standard-website && \
               docker login -u '${{ env.REGISTRY_USERNAME }}' -p '${{ env.REGISTRY_PASSWORD }}' ${{ env.REGISTRY_LOGIN_SERVER }} && \
               docker pull '${{ env.REGISTRY_LOGIN_SERVER }}/${{env.STAGE}}-${{env.NAME}}:${{ env.TAG }}' && \
-              docker run --restart always --name elasticsearch -d \
-              -e ES_SETTING_XPACK_SECURITY_ENABLED=False \
-              -e ES_SETTING_DISCOVERY_TYPE=single-node \
-              --network iati-standard-website \
-              'docker.elastic.co/elasticsearch/elasticsearch:8.15.3' && \
               docker run --restart always --name website -d -p 5000:5000 \
               --log-driver 'json-file' \
               --log-opt max-size=100m \
               --log-opt max-file=3 \
-              --network iati-standard-website \
-              --link elasticsearch:elasticsearch \
               -e DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE='iati.settings.dev_public' \
               -e SECRET_KEY='${{ secrets.DEV_SECRET_KEY }}' \
               -e DATABASE_NAME='${{ secrets.DEV_DATABASE_NAME }}' \
@@ -340,10 +332,10 @@ jobs:
             --ssh-key-values ${{ secrets.DEV_PUB_KEYS }} && \
             export NEW_IP=$(az vm list-ip-addresses --name "${{ env.STAGE }}-${{ env.NAME }}-${{ env.NEW_COLOUR }}" --resource-group "${{ env.STAGE }}-${{ env.NAME }}-${{ env.NEW_COLOUR }}" --query [].virtualMachine.network[].publicIpAddresses[][].ipAddress --output tsv) && \
             echo "NEW_IP=$NEW_IP" >> $GITHUB_ENV && \
-            az postgres server firewall-rule update \
+            az postgres flexible-server firewall-rule update \
             --resource-group "${{ secrets.PROD_PSQL_RESOURCE_GROUP }}" \
-            --server-name "${{ secrets.PROD_PSQL_NAME }}" \
-            --name "${{ env.STAGE }}-${{ env.NAME }}-${{ env.NEW_COLOUR }}" \
+            --name "${{ secrets.PROD_PSQL_NAME }}" \
+            --rule-name "${{ env.STAGE }}-${{ env.NAME }}-${{ env.NEW_COLOUR }}" \
             --start-ip-address $NEW_IP \
             --end-ip-address $NEW_IP && \
             az network nsg rule create \
@@ -408,20 +400,12 @@ jobs:
             --name "${{ env.STAGE }}-${{ env.NAME }}-${{ env.NEW_COLOUR }}" \
             --command-id RunShellScript \
             --scripts "\
-              docker network create iati-standard-website && \
               docker login -u '${{ env.REGISTRY_USERNAME }}' -p '${{ env.REGISTRY_PASSWORD }}' ${{ env.REGISTRY_LOGIN_SERVER }} && \
               docker pull '${{ env.REGISTRY_LOGIN_SERVER }}/${{env.STAGE}}-${{env.NAME}}:${{ env.TAG }}' && \
-              docker run --restart always --name elasticsearch -d \
-              -e ES_SETTING_XPACK_SECURITY_ENABLED=False \
-              -e ES_SETTING_DISCOVERY_TYPE=single-node \
-              --network iati-standard-website \
-              'docker.elastic.co/elasticsearch/elasticsearch:8.15.3' && \
               docker run --restart always --name website -d -p 5000:5000 \
               --log-driver 'json-file' \
               --log-opt max-size=100m \
               --log-opt max-file=3 \
-              --network iati-standard-website \
-              --link elasticsearch:elasticsearch \
               -e DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE='iati.settings.production' \
               -e SECRET_KEY='${{ secrets.PROD_SECRET_KEY }}' \
               -e DATABASE_NAME='${{ secrets.PROD_DATABASE_NAME }}' \
diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 3ab3a3f19..2bab6f60b 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ ENV PYTHONDONTWRITEBYTECODE 1
 ENV PYTHONIOENCODING utf_8
 
 RUN apk update
-RUN apk add --no-cache bash curl
+RUN apk add --no-cache bash
 
 # Init engine
 
@@ -40,6 +40,52 @@ RUN apk add --no-cache jpeg-dev zlib-dev
 RUN apk add --no-cache postgresql-dev
 RUN apk add --no-cache libmemcached-dev zlib-dev
 
+# Elasticsearch from https://github.com/blacktop/docker-elasticsearch-alpine/blob/master/6.8/Dockerfile
+
+RUN apk add --no-cache openjdk8-jre su-exec
+
+ENV VERSION 6.8.23
+ENV DOWNLOAD_URL "https://artifacts.elastic.co/downloads/elasticsearch"
+ENV ES_TARBAL "${DOWNLOAD_URL}/elasticsearch-oss-${VERSION}.tar.gz"
+# ENV EXPECTED_SHA_URL "${DOWNLOAD_URL}/elasticsearch-oss-${VERSION}.tar.gz.sha512"
+ENV ES_TARBALL_SHA "14dbb2809b06499373c3ec5035d829d62255c2c93103618fbfe3d7d03cecf8847f654e83c78f765f23224126ff18ed713b959857e8ecf435c475b11bcd143d3f"
+RUN apk add --no-cache -t .build-deps wget ca-certificates gnupg openssl \
+  && set -ex \
+  && cd /tmp \
+  && echo "===> Install Elasticsearch..." \
+  && wget --progress=bar:force -O elasticsearch.tar.gz "$ES_TARBAL"; \
+  if [ "$ES_TARBALL_SHA" ]; then \
+  echo "$ES_TARBALL_SHA *elasticsearch.tar.gz" | sha512sum -c -; \
+  fi; \
+  tar -xf elasticsearch.tar.gz \
+  && ls -lah \
+  && mv elasticsearch-$VERSION /usr/share/elasticsearch \
+  && adduser -D -h /usr/share/elasticsearch elasticsearch \
+  && echo "===> Creating Elasticsearch Paths..." \
+  && for path in \
+  /usr/share/elasticsearch/data \
+  /usr/share/elasticsearch/logs \
+  /usr/share/elasticsearch/config \
+  /usr/share/elasticsearch/config/scripts \
+  /usr/share/elasticsearch/tmp \
+  /usr/share/elasticsearch/plugins \
+  ; do \
+  mkdir -p "$path"; \
+  chown -R elasticsearch:elasticsearch "$path"; \
+  done \
+  && rm -rf /tmp/* \
+  && apk del --purge .build-deps
+
+COPY config/elastic/elasticsearch.yml /usr/share/elasticsearch/config/elasticsearch.yml
+COPY config/elastic/log4j2.properties /usr/share/elasticsearch/config/log4j2.properties
+RUN chown -R elasticsearch:elasticsearch /usr/share/elasticsearch/config
+
+RUN mkdir -p /var/log/messages
+RUN apk add logrotate
+COPY config/elastic/logrotate /etc/logrotate.d/elasticsearch
+RUN chmod 644 /etc/logrotate.d/elasticsearch
+COPY config/elastic/elasticsearch.service /etc/init.d/elasticsearch.service
+
 # Web app dependencies
 
 RUN mkdir -p /usr/src/app
diff --git a/Dockerfile_deploy b/Dockerfile_deploy
index bd4ec864d..625ba2601 100644
--- a/Dockerfile_deploy
+++ b/Dockerfile_deploy
@@ -30,6 +30,6 @@ COPY manage.py /usr/src/app/manage.py
 COPY pytest.ini /usr/src/app/pytest.init
 COPY setup.cfg /usr/src/app/setup.cfg
 
-ENV ELASTICSEARCH_URL=http://elasticsearch:9200
+ENV ELASTICSEARCH_URL=http://localhost:9200
 ENV GUNICORN_WORKERS=5
 ENV COMPRESS_ENABLED='True'
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index d7a39b0d1..e69fd7881 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -19,12 +19,6 @@ This repository hosts the new IATI website based on Django and Wagtail CMS. A Po
 
 - Set a SECRET_KEY
 
-A limit on your kernel must be increased. There are ways to do this permanently, but to do so temporarily:
-
-```
-sudo sysctl -w vm.max_map_count=262144 
-```
-
 Build the project. The following will build linked `web` and `postgres` containers.
 
 ```
diff --git a/config/elastic/elasticsearch.service b/config/elastic/elasticsearch.service
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..61854c371
--- /dev/null
+++ b/config/elastic/elasticsearch.service
@@ -0,0 +1,58 @@
+#! /bin/sh
+### BEGIN INIT INFO
+# Provides:          elasticsearch
+# Required-Start:    $all
+# Required-Stop:     $all
+# Default-Start:     2 3 4 5
+# Default-Stop:      0 1 6
+# Short-Description: Starts elasticsearch
+# Description:       Starts elasticsearch using start-stop-daemon
+### END INIT INFO
+
+ES_HOME=/usr/share/elasticsearch
+JAVA_HOME=/usr/lib/jvm/default-jvm/
+ES_MIN_MEM=256m
+ES_MAX_MEM=1g
+ES_JAVA_OPTS="-Xms256m -Xmx1g"
+DAEMON=$ES_HOME/bin/elasticsearch
+NAME=elasticsearch
+DESC=elasticsearch
+PID_FILE=$ES_HOME/$NAME.pid
+DAEMON_OPTS="--pidfile $PID_FILE"
+
+test -x $DAEMON || exit 0
+
+set -e
+
+case "$1" in
+  start)
+    echo -n "Starting $DESC: "
+    if start-stop-daemon --start --background --user elasticsearch --pidfile $PID_FILE --exec $DAEMON -- $DAEMON_OPTS
+    then
+        echo "started."
+    else
+        echo "failed."
+    fi
+    ;;
+  stop)
+    echo -n "Stopping $DESC: "
+    if start-stop-daemon --stop --user elasticsearch --pidfile $PID_FILE
+    then
+        echo "stopped."
+    else
+        echo "failed."
+    fi
+    ;;
+  restart|force-reload)
+    ${0} stop
+    sleep 0.5
+    ${0} start
+    ;;
+  *)
+    N=/etc/init.d/$NAME
+    echo "Usage: $N {start|stop|restart|force-reload}" >&2
+    exit 1
+    ;;
+esac
+
+exit 0
diff --git a/config/elastic/elasticsearch.yml b/config/elastic/elasticsearch.yml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..b56b4e97a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/config/elastic/elasticsearch.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+cluster.name: "docker-cluster"
+network.host: 0.0.0.0
+discovery.type: single-node
diff --git a/config/elastic/log4j2.properties b/config/elastic/log4j2.properties
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..9ad290ad8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/config/elastic/log4j2.properties
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+status = error
+
+appender.console.type = Console
+appender.console.name = console
+appender.console.layout.type = PatternLayout
+appender.console.layout.pattern = [%d{ISO8601}][%-5p][%-25c{1.}] [%node_name]%marker %m%n
+
+rootLogger.level = info
+rootLogger.appenderRef.console.ref = console
diff --git a/config/elastic/logrotate b/config/elastic/logrotate
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..5c96e06d8
--- /dev/null
+++ b/config/elastic/logrotate
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+/var/log/elasticsearch/*.log {
+    daily
+    rotate 50
+    size 50M
+    copytruncate
+    compress
+    delaycompress
+    missingok
+    notifempty
+    create 644 elasticsearch elasticsearch
+}
+/var/log/gunicorn/*.log {
+    size 10M
+    copytruncate
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/docker-compose.dev.yml b/docker-compose.dev.yml
index 75de23020..0ecd3b604 100644
--- a/docker-compose.dev.yml
+++ b/docker-compose.dev.yml
@@ -6,22 +6,13 @@ services:
       - POSTGRES_HOST_AUTH_METHOD=trust
     ports:
       - 5432:5432
-
-  elasticsearch:
-    image: docker.elastic.co/elasticsearch/elasticsearch:8.15.3
-    environment:
-      - ES_SETTING_XPACK_SECURITY_ENABLED=False
-      - ES_SETTING_DISCOVERY_TYPE=single-node
-    ports:
-      - 9200:9200
-
   web:
     build:
       context: .
     environment:
       - DATABASE_URL=postgres://postgres:@postgres:5432/postgres
       - SECRET_KEY=enter-a-long-unguessable-string-here
-      - ELASTICSEARCH_URL=http://elasticsearch:9200
+      - ELASTICSEARCH_URL=http://localhost:9200
       - DJANGO_SETTINGS_MODULE=iati.settings.dev
       - GUNICORN_WORKERS=1
       - GITHUB_TOKEN
@@ -29,16 +20,9 @@ services:
       - RECAPTCHA_PRIVATE_KEY
       - DEBUG_SERVER
       - COMPRESS_ENABLED
-    # I'm not sure why these links are needed; I thought Docker defaults would just do this for us but without it
-    # the Web container can't see the others.
     links:
-      - postgres:postgres
-      - elasticsearch:elasticsearch
+      - postgres
     ports:
       - 5000:5000
     volumes:
       - ./:/usr/src/app
-
-networks:
-  default:
-    name: iati-standard-website
diff --git a/entrypoint.sh b/entrypoint.sh
index 74076a973..c628b560b 100755
--- a/entrypoint.sh
+++ b/entrypoint.sh
@@ -13,10 +13,12 @@ else
   done
 fi
 
-until curl --output /dev/null --silent --head --fail ${ELASTICSEARCH_URL}; do
-    >&2 echo "Elasticsearch is unavailable - sleeping"
-    sleep 10
-done
+if [[ -z "${ELASTICSEARCH_URL}" ]]; then
+  >&2 echo "Skipping Elasticsearch"
+else
+  >&2 echo "Starting Elasticsearch"
+  rc-service elasticsearch.service start
+fi
 
 if [[ -z "${DEBUG_SERVER}" ]]; then
   gunicorn iati.wsgi:application --bind 0.0.0.0:5000 --workers $GUNICORN_WORKERS >> /var/log/gunicorn/gunicorn.log 2>&1 &
diff --git a/iati/settings/base.py b/iati/settings/base.py
index 2fc327783..ce1e4af3f 100644
--- a/iati/settings/base.py
+++ b/iati/settings/base.py
@@ -554,7 +554,7 @@
 # Search settings
 WAGTAILSEARCH_BACKENDS = {
     'default': {
-        'BACKEND': 'wagtail.search.backends.elasticsearch8',
+        'BACKEND': 'wagtail.search.backends.elasticsearch6',
         'URLS': [os.getenv('ELASTICSEARCH_URL', 'http://localhost:9200')],
         'INDEX': 'iati',
     },
diff --git a/requirements.in b/requirements.in
index 0754a81c6..0163ce8b9 100644
--- a/requirements.in
+++ b/requirements.in
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ django-recaptcha3 @ git+https://github.com/bartsanchez/django-recaptcha3.git@313
 django-storages[azure]
 django-widget-tweaks
 Django>=4.2,<4.3
-elasticsearch>=8,<9
+elasticsearch>=6.8,<7
 gunicorn
 opencensus-ext-azure
 opencensus-ext-django
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index 967eb32d8..ae3774bc2 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -29,9 +29,7 @@ bleach==6.1.0
 cachetools==5.4.0
     # via google-auth
 certifi==2024.7.4
-    # via
-    #   elastic-transport
-    #   requests
+    # via requests
 cffi==1.17.0
     # via
     #   cryptography
@@ -109,9 +107,7 @@ djangorestframework==3.15.2
     # via wagtail
 draftjs-exporter==2.1.7
     # via wagtail
-elastic-transport==8.15.1
-    # via elasticsearch
-elasticsearch==8.15.1
+elasticsearch==6.8.2
     # via -r requirements.in
 et-xmlfile==1.1.0
     # via openpyxl
@@ -240,7 +236,7 @@ tzdata==2024.1
     # via -r requirements.in
 urllib3==2.2.2
     # via
-    #   elastic-transport
+    #   elasticsearch
     #   pygithub
     #   requests
 wagtail==5.2.6
diff --git a/requirements_dev.txt b/requirements_dev.txt
index 570154890..ec760b291 100644
--- a/requirements_dev.txt
+++ b/requirements_dev.txt
@@ -49,7 +49,6 @@ cachetools==5.4.0
 certifi==2024.7.4
     # via
     #   -r requirements.txt
-    #   elastic-transport
     #   requests
     #   selenium
 cffi==1.17.0
@@ -160,11 +159,7 @@ draftjs-exporter==2.1.7
     # via
     #   -r requirements.txt
     #   wagtail
-elastic-transport==8.15.1
-    # via
-    #   -r requirements.txt
-    #   elasticsearch
-elasticsearch==8.15.1
+elasticsearch==6.8.2
     # via -r requirements.txt
 et-xmlfile==1.1.0
     # via
@@ -444,7 +439,7 @@ tzdata==2024.1
 urllib3[socks]==2.2.2
     # via
     #   -r requirements.txt
-    #   elastic-transport
+    #   elasticsearch
     #   pygithub
     #   pytest-splinter
     #   requests