Cannot get the correct field's type on kibana

[Adansar]

Hi everyone,

I have a problem on Kibana, I converted a field from string to integer on the logstash configuration file using mutate { convert ..
....
if [exportedRecords]{
mutate{
convert => { "exportedRecords" => "integer" }
}
....

But when i get the field on kibana, i get it as a string.

What should i do ?

Best Regards.

[Oozza]

Hi,
The type of field is configured in Elasticsearch.

If you didn't specify mapping for your index a default dynamic mapping probably set the field type to text. Once something is written into the index the mapping won't change.

You should create a template for the logstash index and specify a mapping. Then recreate the index.

Just recreating the index can also help. If the first item you write to index to the field is a number, the mapping may be automatically set to number, but this is not the correct way.

[Adansar]

If i recreate the index, is there any risk to lose the data i already have on it ? and how could i create a template for the logstash index please?

Thank you.

[Oozza]

A field type for old data can be changed but it will require reindexing (Reindex API). There is also a nice blog about changing mapping https://www.elastic.co/blog/changing-mapping-with-zero-downtime.

If you never heard about mapping and templates, it would be good to google a bit and eventually come with more specific questions and your use case.

[Adansar]

thank you