# Better error message for missing index **URL:** \ **Category:** Elasticsearch\ **Created:** [July 22, 2010, 12:57pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/better-error-message-for-missing-index/3137 "2010-07-22T12:57:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Alberto\_Paro\_2](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/alberto_paro_2/32/1137_2.png) [@Alberto\_Paro\_2](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Alberto_Paro_2)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2010, 12:57pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/better-error-message-for-missing-index/3137/1 "2010-07-22T12:57:23Z")
If I try to search in a missing index, ES does return a query message error not very easy to understand. An exception such as InvalidIndex or MissingIndex should be better. I'll attach a simple use case (created index myapp\_entry and searched myapp\_blog) with the return message: curl -XDELETE [http://localhost:9200/test\_test](http://localhost:9200/test_test) -d '' curl -XPUT [http://localhost:9200/test\_test/myapp\_entry/4c482e22142bb51d32000001](http://localhost:9200/test_test/myapp_entry/4c482e22142bb51d32000001) -d '{"content": "", "date\_published": "2010-07-22T06:40:18", "blog\_id": null, "id": "4c482e22142bb51d32000001", "title": "entry 1"}' curl -XPUT [http://localhost:9200/test\_test/myapp\_entry/4c482e22142bb51d32000002](http://localhost:9200/test_test/myapp_entry/4c482e22142bb51d32000002) -d '{"content": "", "date\_published": "2010-07-23T06:40:18", "blog\_id": null, "id": "4c482e22142bb51d32000002", "title": "entry 2"}' curl -XPUT [http://localhost:9200/test\_test/myapp\_entry/4c482e22142bb51d32000003](http://localhost:9200/test_test/myapp_entry/4c482e22142bb51d32000003) -d '{"content": "", "date\_published": "2010-07-21T06:40:18", "blog\_id": null, "id": "4c482e22142bb51d32000003", "title": "entry 3"}' curl -XPOST [http://localhost:9200/test\_test/\_refresh](http://localhost:9200/test_test/_refresh) curl -XGET '[http://localhost:9200/test\_test/myapp\_blog/\_search](http://localhost:9200/test_test/myapp_blog/_search)' -d '{"query": {"term": {"date\_published" : "2010-07-21T06:40:18"}}}' Error Message: {"error":"SearchPhaseExecutionException[Failed to execute [query] total failure; shardFailures {[5183d782-f178-444a-b3d0-a6f31c32be3e][test\_test][0]: QueryPhaseExecutionException[[test\_test][0]: query[date\_published:[1279694418000 TO 1279694418000]],from[0],size[10]: Query Failed []]; nested: }{[5183d782-f178-444a-b3d0-a6f31c32be3e][test\_test][1]: QueryPhaseExecutionException[[test\_test][1]: query[date\_published:[1279694418000 TO 1279694418000]],from[0],size[10]: Query Failed []]; nested: }{[5183d782-f178-444a-b3d0-a6f31c32be3e][test\_test][3]: QueryPhaseExecutionException[[test\_test][3]: query[date\_published:[1279694418000 TO 1279694418000]],from[0],size[10]: Query Failed []]; nested: }{[5183d782-f178-444a-b3d0-a6f31c32be3e][test\_test][4]: QueryPhaseExecutionException[[test\_test][4]: query[date\_published:[1279694418000 TO 1279694418000]],from[0],size[10]: Query Failed []]; nested: }{[5183d782-f178-444a-b3d0-a6f31c32be3e][test\_test][2]: QueryPhaseExecutionException[[test\_test][2]: query[date\_published:[1279694418000 TO 1279694418000]],from[0],size[10]: Query Failed []]; nested: }]"} Stacktrace of es: [14:55:38,875][DEBUG][action.search.type] [Heart Attack] [test\_test][3], node[b59ce67f-7423-4c34-a966-6bfefc1f2294], [P], s[STARTED]: Failed to execute [org.elasticsearch.action.search.SearchRequest@4d88e490] org.elasticsearch.search.query.QueryPhaseExecutionException: [test\_test][3]: query[date\_published:[1279694418000 TO 1279694418000]],from[0],size[10]: Query Failed [Failed to execute main query] at org.elasticsearch.search.query.QueryPhase.execute(QueryPhase.java:124) at org.elasticsearch.search.SearchService.executeQueryPhase(SearchService.java:169) at org.elasticsearch.search.action.SearchServiceTransportAction.sendExecuteQuery(SearchServiceTransportAction.java:129) at org.elasticsearch.action.search.type.TransportSearchQueryThenFetchAction$AsyncAction.sendExecuteFirstPhase(TransportSearchQueryThenFetchAction.java:77) at org.elasticsearch.action.search.type.TransportSearchTypeAction$BaseAsyncAction.performFirstPhase(TransportSearchTypeAction.java:194) at org.elasticsearch.action.search.type.TransportSearchTypeAction$BaseAsyncAction.access$000(TransportSearchTypeAction.java:80) at org.elasticsearch.action.search.type.TransportSearchTypeAction$BaseAsyncAction$1.run(TransportSearchTypeAction.java:153) at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.runTask(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:886) at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:908) at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:637) Caused by: java.lang.NullPointerException at org.elasticsearch.search.query.QueryPhase.execute(QueryPhase.java:81) ... 9 more Hi, Alberto ---
**Author:** ![kimchy](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/kimchy/32/44952_2.png) [@kimchy](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/kimchy)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2010, 6:17pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/better-error-message-for-missing-index/3137/2 "2010-07-22T18:17:37Z")
Fixed, and based on your example (and the stack trace) I guess you mean searching on an invalid type, not index. On Thu, Jul 22, 2010 at 3:57 PM, Alberto Paro [alberto.paro@gmail.com](mailto:alberto.paro@gmail.com)wrote: > If I try to search in a missing index, ES does return a query message error > not very easy to understand. > > An exception such as InvalidIndex or MissingIndex should be better. > > I'll attach a simple use case (created index myapp\_entry and searched > myapp\_blog) with the return message: > > curl -XDELETE [http://localhost:9200/test\_test](http://localhost:9200/test_test) -d '' > curl -XPUT > [http://localhost:9200/test\_test/myapp\_entry/4c482e22142bb51d32000001](http://localhost:9200/test_test/myapp_entry/4c482e22142bb51d32000001) -d > '{"content": "", "date\_published": "2010-07-22T06:40:18", "blog\_id": null, > "id": "4c482e22142bb51d32000001", "title": "entry 1"}' > curl -XPUT > [http://localhost:9200/test\_test/myapp\_entry/4c482e22142bb51d32000002](http://localhost:9200/test_test/myapp_entry/4c482e22142bb51d32000002) -d > '{"content": "", "date\_published": "2010-07-23T06:40:18", "blog\_id": null, > "id": "4c482e22142bb51d32000002", "title": "entry 2"}' > curl -XPUT > [http://localhost:9200/test\_test/myapp\_entry/4c482e22142bb51d32000003](http://localhost:9200/test_test/myapp_entry/4c482e22142bb51d32000003) -d > '{"content": "", "date\_published": "2010-07-21T06:40:18", "blog\_id": null, > "id": "4c482e22142bb51d32000003", "title": "entry 3"}' > curl -XPOST [http://localhost:9200/test\_test/\_refresh](http://localhost:9200/test_test/_refresh) > curl -XGET '[http://localhost:9200/test\_test/myapp\_blog/\_search](http://localhost:9200/test_test/myapp_blog/_search)' -d > '{"query": {"term": {"date\_published" : "2010-07-21T06:40:18"}}}' > > Error Message: > > {"error":"SearchPhaseExecutionException[Failed to execute [query] total > failure; shardFailures > {[5183d782-f178-444a-b3d0-a6f31c32be3e][test\_test][0]: > QueryPhaseExecutionException[[test\_test][0]: > query[date\_published:[1279694418000 TO 1279694418000]],from[0],size[10]: > Query Failed ]; nested: > }{[5183d782-f178-444a-b3d0-a6f31c32be3e][test\_test][1]: > QueryPhaseExecutionException[[test\_test][1]: > query[date\_published:[1279694418000 TO 1279694418000]],from[0],size[10]: > Query Failed ]; nested: > }{[5183d782-f178-444a-b3d0-a6f31c32be3e][test\_test][3]: > QueryPhaseExecutionException[[test\_test][3]: > query[date\_published:[1279694418000 TO 1279694418000]],from[0],size[10]: > Query Failed ]; nested: > }{[5183d782-f178-444a-b3d0-a6f31c32be3e][test\_test][4]: > QueryPhaseExecutionException[[test\_test][4]: > query[date\_published:[1279694418000 TO 1279694418000]],from[0],size[10]: > Query Failed ]; nested: > }{[5183d782-f178-444a-b3d0-a6f31c32be3e][test\_test][2]: > QueryPhaseExecutionException[[test\_test][2]: > query[date\_published:[1279694418000 TO 1279694418000]],from[0],size[10]: > Query Failed ]; nested: }]"} > > Stacktrace of es: > > [14:55:38,875][DEBUG][action.search.type] [Heart Attack] > [test\_test][3], node[b59ce67f-7423-4c34-a966-6bfefc1f2294], [P], s[STARTED]: > Failed to execute [org.elasticsearch.action.search.SearchRequest@4d88e490] > org.elasticsearch.search.query.QueryPhaseExecutionException: > [test\_test][3]: query[date\_published:[1279694418000 TO > 1279694418000]],from[0],size[10]: Query Failed [Failed to execute main > query] > at > org.elasticsearch.search.query.QueryPhase.execute(QueryPhase.java:124) > at > org.elasticsearch.search.SearchService.executeQueryPhase(SearchService.java:169) > at > org.elasticsearch.search.action.SearchServiceTransportAction.sendExecuteQuery(SearchServiceTransportAction.java:129) > at > org.elasticsearch.action.search.type.TransportSearchQueryThenFetchAction$AsyncAction.sendExecuteFirstPhase(TransportSearchQueryThenFetchAction.java:77) > at > org.elasticsearch.action.search.type.TransportSearchTypeAction$BaseAsyncAction.performFirstPhase(TransportSearchTypeAction.java:194) > at > org.elasticsearch.action.search.type.TransportSearchTypeAction$BaseAsyncAction.access$000(TransportSearchTypeAction.java:80) > at > org.elasticsearch.action.search.type.TransportSearchTypeAction$BaseAsyncAction$1.run(TransportSearchTypeAction.java:153) > at > java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.runTask(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:886) > at > java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:908) > at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:637) > Caused by: java.lang.NullPointerException > at > org.elasticsearch.search.query.QueryPhase.execute(QueryPhase.java:81) > ... 9 more > > Hi, > Alberto ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2017, 4:21am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/better-error-message-for-missing-index/3137/3 "2017-07-06T04:21:47Z")