Basic stuff about Index Patterns

[yonatan]

I am using Elasticsearch and Kibana as plugin to view the data in the indices. I am using Kibana's DevTools to send commands for adding/deleting/updating indices etc.
I want to add a field to a certain text property so it will have a keyword field to be able to both make a full text searches and aggregate using this property.

1. Does a change like that means I need to update Kibana's index pattern as well?
2. I have read the ElasticSearch's docs on PUT Mappings and know how to use it to update the indices themselves, but I don't know how to update the index patterns.. I read the same API should be used to update it, but I don't know how to see the index pattern's original mapping in order to update it.
3. I didn't really understand what reloading an index pattern means and if it can be used somehow after updating an index

[lukas (Lukas Olson)]

Yes, you'll need to update Kibana's index pattern if you update the Elasticsearch mappings. To do this, all you should need to do is go to Management, then Index Patterns, click the index pattern, then click the refresh button on the far right.

[yonatan]

It seems a bit strange that you need to create a full index pattern to begin with, but when you update it you can simply click the refresh button and it updates.. does it mean I can create an empty index pattern for a fully loaded new index and simply click refresh and it will update itself accordingly?

[lukas (Lukas Olson)]

Yes, that's correct. Kibana just pulls all of the data from the corresponding mappings inside the Elasticsearch indices.