diff --git a/.dockerignore b/.dockerignore
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..9d88fd34ba65887a82895cf189e8159a81c8d79c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.dockerignore
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+.git
+.gitignore
+.example.env
+/venv
+/src/__pycache__
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/Dockerfile b/Dockerfile
index 2f292652c91f5d2f968f47745016c760b774697a..4d4ec75560d28a0f2f02ee606da544b5f1adcd5f 100644
--- a/Dockerfile
+++ b/Dockerfile
@@ -9,4 +9,4 @@ RUN pip install --no-cache-dir -r requirements.txt
 
 COPY src .
 
-CMD [ "flask", "run" ]
\ No newline at end of file
+CMD [ "flask", "run" ]
diff --git a/src/indexer.py b/src/indexer.py
index fe4501ed7a5476eb74e1d16737b37971400a2005..bc3a5b2797a1a9cb8840771d9dd719edefbb9fe0 100644
--- a/src/indexer.py
+++ b/src/indexer.py
@@ -1,10 +1,22 @@
 from elasticsearch import Elasticsearch
+from time import sleep
 
 index_name = "blog"
 doc_type = "post"
 
 def connect_elastic(host='localhost', port=9200):
-    return Elasticsearch([{'host': host, 'port': port}])
+
+    MAXIMUM_ATTEMPS = 12
+    connection = Elasticsearch([{'host': host, 'port': port}])
+    for _ in range(MAXIMUM_ATTEMPS):
+        is_connected = connection.ping()
+        if not is_connected:
+            sleep(5)
+            continue
+        
+        return connection
+
+    raise TimeoutError(f"Could not connect to elasticsearch server at {host}:{port}.")  
 
 def refresh_index(es):
     if es.indices.exists(index=index_name):
diff --git a/src/main.py b/src/main.py
index c5678000555bc13f8e07de5d3ce6cebc12ab518c..eb8dd1089e09b4541a716b846095ba4f1475a7d0 100644
--- a/src/main.py
+++ b/src/main.py
@@ -22,6 +22,8 @@ if __name__ == "__main__":
     es_host = os.getenv('ES_HOST', 'localhost')
     es_port = os.getenv('ES_PORT', 9200)
 
+    print(f"Connecting to {es_host}:{es_port}")
+
     es = indexer.connect_elastic(es_host, es_port)
     print("ElasticSearch connection established")