# Applying ILM on custom index
**URL:** https://discuss.elastic.co/t/applying-ilm-on-custom-index/334924
**Category:** Elasticsearch
**Tags:** ilm-index-lifecycle-management
**Created:** [June 1, 2023, 8:40am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/applying-ilm-on-custom-index/334924 "2023-06-01T08:40:06Z")
**Posts on this page:** 5
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@hjazz6](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/hjazz6)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2023, 8:40am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/applying-ilm-on-custom-index/334924/1 "2023-06-01T08:40:07Z")
Hi,
I am using filebeat 8.3.3 with several inputs and writing them to the same ES 8.3.3. To separate the different inputs on ES, I have the following in my `filebeat.yml`.
```auto
output.elasticsearch:
indices:
- index: "filebeat-%{[agent.version]}-inputA-%{+yyyy.MM.dd}"
when.equals:
input.type: "log"
- index: "filebeat-%{[agent.version]}-inputB-%{+yyyy.MM.dd}"
when.equals:
input.type: "filestream"
```
I now have these indices created daily, but ILM is not applied on them, so they can grow to 1-2TB per day.
I've read that ILM doesn't work on custom indices. Is there any workaround to this so that I can apply ILM on these 2 indices and have them be rotated every 50GB and deleted after 7 days?
Thank you.
---
### Author:  [@Wave](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Wave)
#### Post date: [June 5, 2023, 8:06pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/applying-ilm-on-custom-index/334924/2 "2023-06-05T20:06:13Z")
Hi @hjazz6,
ILM supports custom indices but you need to use an alias and often you have to bootstrap the index. See [here](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/getting-started-index-lifecycle-management.html#manage-time-series-data-without-data-streams) for the following documentation.
---
### Author:  [@warkolm](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/warkolm)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2023, 12:25am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/applying-ilm-on-custom-index/334924/3 "2023-06-06T00:25:04Z")
Also FWIW there's no value in using `%{+yyyy.MM.dd}` in your index names if you are using ILM as variables won't be used when things are rolled over.
---
### Author:  [@hjazz6](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/hjazz6)
#### Post date: [June 6, 2023, 7:53am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/applying-ilm-on-custom-index/334924/4 "2023-06-06T07:53:56Z")
Thanks, I've removed the date from the index names.
---
### Author:  [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)
#### Post date: [July 4, 2023, 7:54am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/applying-ilm-on-custom-index/334924/5 "2023-07-04T07:54:28Z")
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