# Cluster recovery after deleting indices directory **URL:** \ **Category:** Elasticsearch\ **Created:** [September 26, 2019, 5:04pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/cluster-recovery-after-deleting-indices-directory/201276 "2019-09-26T17:04:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sergio\_Peral\_Aguiler](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/sergio_peral_aguiler/32/45999_2.png) [@Sergio\_Peral\_Aguiler](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Sergio_Peral_Aguiler)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2019, 5:04pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/cluster-recovery-after-deleting-indices-directory/201276/1 "2019-09-26T17:04:48Z")
Hello team, First of all, thank you for the product. My question is: is there any way to recover a cluster after having removed the `path.data/nodes//indices` ? After having done that, my cluster is not able to find any master node. I have `master_not_discovered_exception` error. The credentials for the API are not working either. If there's absolutely no way to recover that cluster and the data, how can I bootstrap a new cluster? I've changed the `cluster.name` option in every node and I'm still unable to bootstrap a new cluster. Please help! Thanks in advance. Regards, Sergio. ---
**Author:** ![manish19](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@manish19](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/manish19)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2019, 5:33am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/cluster-recovery-after-deleting-indices-directory/201276/2 "2019-09-27T05:33:41Z")
Hi @Sergio_Peral_Aguiler, > [@Sergio\_Peral\_Aguiler](#): > > If there's absolutely no way to recover that cluster and the data, how can I bootstrap a new cluster? I've changed the `cluster.name` option in every node and I'm still unable to bootstrap a new cluster. You can only recover your indices/data if you have snapshot/backup of your data. There is no other way to recover your cluster in elasticsearch. However, for `master_not_discovered_exception` i need the logs to identify the problem. could you please share the logs for the same? > [@](#): > > I've changed the `cluster.name` option in every node and I'm still unable to bootstrap a new cluster. can i know what error message are showing while starting elasticsearch cluster? Thanks, Manish ---
**Author:** ![Sergio\_Peral\_Aguiler](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/sergio_peral_aguiler/32/45999_2.png) [@Sergio\_Peral\_Aguiler](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Sergio_Peral_Aguiler)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2019, 12:27pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/cluster-recovery-after-deleting-indices-directory/201276/3 "2019-09-27T12:27:40Z")
Hi @manish19, Thanks for your response. After deleting the `indices` folder, I think the credentials of the cluster were lost/corrupted and the API is throwing `unauthorized` error for every query. Then, I tried to set new credentials and got the following error: /usr/share/elasticsearch/bin/elasticsearch-setup-passwords auto ``` Failed to determine the health of the cluster running at [http://ES_IP:9200](http://ES_IP:9200/) Unexpected response code [503] from calling GET http://ES_IP:9200/_cluster/health?pretty Cause: master_not_discovered_exception It is recommended that you resolve the issues with your cluster before running elasticsearch-setup-passwords. It is very likely that the password changes will fail when run against an unhealthy cluster. ``` In the cluster logs I have: [2019-09-26T07:59:49,594][WARN][o.e.h.AbstractHttpServerTransport] [] caught exception while handling client http traffic, closing connection Netty4HttpChannel{localAddress=0.0.0.0/0.0.0.0:9200, remoteAddress=/127.0.0.1:40320} Authentication of [elastic] was terminated by realm [reserved] - failed to authenticate user [elastic] WARN ][o.e.c.c.ClusterFormationFailureHelper] [xxxxxxxxxxxxxx] master not discovered yet, this node has not previously joined a bootstrapped (v7+) cluster, and this node must discover master-eligible nodes I can telnet between nodes through port 9300 and I can see the connections in netstat. I understand the snapshot part, but I can't recover the snapshot because I can't use the API. How could I make the cluster work again (even though the data is lost)? Or how could I start a new cluster without reinstalling? Thanks again. Regards, Sergio. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2019, 12:32pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/cluster-recovery-after-deleting-indices-directory/201276/4 "2019-10-25T12:32:21Z")
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