# APM Index name has numbers **URL:** \ **Category:** APM\ **Tags:** server\ **Created:** [June 10, 2020, 10:49am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/apm-index-name-has-numbers/236493 "2020-06-10T10:49:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Rohit\_Shrivastava](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/rohit_shrivastava/32/9850_2.png) [@Rohit\_Shrivastava](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Rohit_Shrivastava)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2020, 10:49am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/apm-index-name-has-numbers/236493/1 "2020-06-10T10:49:07Z")
As per [https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/apm/server/7.7/elasticsearch-output.html](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/apm/server/7.7/elasticsearch-output.html) index name should be `"apm-%{[observer.version]}-{type}-%{+yyyy.MM.dd}"` (for example, `"apm-7.7.1-transaction-2020-06-08"` ). however I am running APM, ES and Kibana uing helm chart and haven't changed index configuration at all but I see index getting created as apm-7.6.2-transaction-000001. Can anyone please tell me why is it happening. I like to enable ILM to delete 10 days old indices but I am wondering if I set that would it work? Regards Rohit ---
**Author:** ![A\_B](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/a_b/32/17104_2.png) [@A\_B](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/A_B)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2020, 12:47pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/apm-index-name-has-numbers/236493/2 "2020-06-10T12:47:37Z")
Hi @Rohit_Shrivastava, this is something I also encountered recently. It is because of [this](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/apm/server/7.7/ilm-reference.html#ilm-default) ``` ILM is enabled by default, and the default policy will be applied to all APM indices as long as all of the following conditions are true: The Elasticsearch instance supports ILM. output.elasticsearch is enabled. Custom index or indices settings are not configured. ``` So, ILM is enabled and you can configure the policy in Kibana or in the APM server config. ---
**Author:** ![Rohit\_Shrivastava](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/rohit_shrivastava/32/9850_2.png) [@Rohit\_Shrivastava](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Rohit_Shrivastava)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2020, 2:09pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/apm-index-name-has-numbers/236493/3 "2020-06-10T14:09:42Z")
yes ILM is enabled but I was concerned will it work properly if I the index name doesn't have dates but number. And why do I have numbers and not dates if docs says thats the default. ---
**Author:** ![A\_B](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/a_b/32/17104_2.png) [@A\_B](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/A_B)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2020, 2:14pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/apm-index-name-has-numbers/236493/4 "2020-06-10T14:14:16Z")
When you use ILM the index rollover or versioning is not fixed time based anymore. So the date is replaced by a "counter". The ILM policy decides when the index is rolled over (time or size based). I guess the idea is that you have size based rollover so that you know how large each index will be, which will help to optimize shard counts and shard size. ---
**Author:** ![Rohit\_Shrivastava](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/rohit_shrivastava/32/9850_2.png) [@Rohit\_Shrivastava](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Rohit_Shrivastava)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2020, 2:26pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/apm-index-name-has-numbers/236493/5 "2020-06-10T14:26:25Z")
Thanks A\_B! ---
**Author:** ![bmorelli25](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/bmorelli25/32/38738_2.png) [@bmorelli25](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/bmorelli25)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2020, 11:56pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/apm-index-name-has-numbers/236493/6 "2020-06-10T23:56:41Z")
Thanks @A_B for jumping in! That's correct. I can see how these docs are confusing. I've opened [#3870](https://github.com/elastic/apm-server/issues/3870) to improve them. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2020, 8:10pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/apm-index-name-has-numbers/236493/7 "2020-07-01T20:10:31Z")
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