# Curator - Skipping action "alias" due to empty list: \\ **Category:** Elasticsearch\ **Tags:** curator\ **Created:** [February 13, 2019, 4:52pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/curator-skipping-action-alias-due-to-empty-list-class-curator-exceptions-noindices/168259 "2019-02-13T16:52:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![pbabik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ac8455/32.png) [@pbabik](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/pbabik)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2019, 4:52pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/curator-skipping-action-alias-due-to-empty-list-class-curator-exceptions-noindices/168259/1 "2019-02-13T16:52:57Z")
Hello, after we upgraded to 6.2.4 we are having really odd issue only on 1 production cluster. I'm getting empty list of indices where there are clearly indices which suits the condition. Whats more it works on test environment in the same setup. If I don't use "ignore empty list" option it does throw an error. For filtertype pattern i have used prefix and regex, both the same outcome. Action.yml was copied from test environment where it works so I avoid any typos, still the same. Curator version is 5.5.4. Any ideas pls? Thx Works: ```auto 5: action: alias description: "Add/Remove selected indices to or from the specified alias" options: name: analytics warn_if_no_indices: False ignore_empty_list: True continue_if_exception: True disable_action: False add: filters: - filtertype: pattern kind: regex value: '^analytics' - filtertype: age source: name direction: younger timestring: '%Y.%W' unit: weeks unit_count: 2 exclude: remove: filters: - filtertype: pattern kind: regex value: '^analytics' - filtertype: age source: name direction: older timestring: '%Y.%W' unit: weeks unit_count: 2 exclude: ``` \_cat/indices/analytics\* ```auto green open analytics-2019.06w-000001 0OQfVY5vRXihtIUOEco1hA 4 1 558191086 0 325.3gb 162.6gb green open analytics-2019.06w-000002 qXJyu__tTISNrjlItksQCw 4 1 199601308 0 109.6gb 54.7gb green open analytics-2019.07w-000001 gTv6ksskRj20pOGJZJT9wQ 4 1 433071540 0 258.3gb 130.4gb ``` log: ```auto 2019-02-13 17:04:48,581 INFO Trying Action ID: 5, "alias": Add/Remove selected indices to or from the specified alias 2019-02-13 17:04:50,246 INFO Updating aliases... 2019-02-13 17:04:50,246 INFO Alias actions: {'actions': [{'add': {'index': 'analytics-2019.05w-000001', 'alias': 'analytics'}}, {'add': {'index': 'analytics-2019.07w-000001', 'alias': 'analytics'}}, {'add': {'index': 'analytics-2019.05w-000002', 'alias': 'analytics'}}, {'add': {'index': 'analytics-2019.06w-000002', 'alias': 'analytics'}}, {'add': {'index': 'analytics-2019.06w-000001', 'alias': 'analytics'}}]} 2019-02-13 17:04:50,268 INFO Action ID: 5, "alias" completed. ``` Doesn't work: ```auto 6: action: alias description: "Add/Remove selected indices to or from the specified alias" options: name: audit warn_if_no_indices: False ignore_empty_list: True continue_if_exception: True disable_action: False add: filters: - filtertype: pattern kind: prefix value: audit- - filtertype: age source: name direction: younger timestring: '%Y.%m' unit: months unit_count: 2 exclude: remove: filters: - filtertype: pattern kind: prefix value: audit- - filtertype: age source: name direction: older timestring: '%Y.%m' unit: months unit_count: 2 exclude: ``` \_cat/indices/audit\* ```auto green open audit-2018 I5Rr-1I_S5iF-k14QBWgmw 4 1 181787694 135286044 177.5gb 88.7gb green open audit-2019.02 yTDMLejxQJWtBA9ttbwpJw 4 1 8643326 0 16.6gb 8.3gb green open audit-2019.01 hPMhiPSBRFCLsIy0Vn09Lw 4 1 30760434 100 42gb 21gb ``` logs: ```auto 2019-02-13 17:04:50,268 INFO Preparing Action ID: 6, "alias" 2019-02-13 17:04:50,319 INFO Trying Action ID: 6, "alias": Add/Remove selected indices to or from the specified alias 2019-02-13 17:04:50,667 INFO Skipping action "alias" due to empty list: 2019-02-13 17:04:50,668 INFO Action ID: 6, "alias" completed. 2019-02-13 17:04:50,668 INFO Job completed. ``` ---
**Author:** ![theuntergeek](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/theuntergeek/32/44961_2.png) [@theuntergeek](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/theuntergeek)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2019, 5:07pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/curator-skipping-action-alias-due-to-empty-list-class-curator-exceptions-noindices/168259/2 "2019-02-13T17:07:30Z")
Please reformat the preformatted bits between triple back ticks: ```` ``` PASTE HERE ``` ```` It's too hard to read what you intend here otherwise. ---
**Author:** ![pbabik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ac8455/32.png) [@pbabik](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/pbabik)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2019, 5:10pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/curator-skipping-action-alias-due-to-empty-list-class-curator-exceptions-noindices/168259/3 "2019-02-13T17:10:59Z")
Thanks I didn't know how to do that 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![theuntergeek](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/theuntergeek/32/44961_2.png) [@theuntergeek](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/theuntergeek)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2019, 5:22pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/curator-skipping-action-alias-due-to-empty-list-class-curator-exceptions-noindices/168259/4 "2019-02-13T17:22:13Z")
You say "after you upgraded to 6.2.4" these problems started. From which version did you upgrade? ---
**Author:** ![pbabik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ac8455/32.png) [@pbabik](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/pbabik)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2019, 5:27pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/curator-skipping-action-alias-due-to-empty-list-class-curator-exceptions-noindices/168259/5 "2019-02-13T17:27:49Z")
Upgraded from 5.5.2, but the weird part is that i have same indices in test env and there it works. ```auto 2019-02-13 18:01:04,727 INFO Preparing Action ID: 6, "alias" 2019-02-13 18:01:04,798 INFO Trying Action ID: 6, "alias": Add/Remove selected indices to or from the specified alias 2019-02-13 18:01:05,473 INFO Updating aliases... 2019-02-13 18:01:05,473 INFO Alias actions: {'actions': [{'add': {'index': 'audit-2019.01', 'alias': 'audit'}}, {'add': {'index': 'audit-2019.02', 'alias': 'audit'}}]} 2019-02-13 18:01:05,483 INFO Action ID: 6, "alias" completed. ``` ---
**Author:** ![theuntergeek](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/theuntergeek/32/44961_2.png) [@theuntergeek](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/theuntergeek)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2019, 5:41pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/curator-skipping-action-alias-due-to-empty-list-class-curator-exceptions-noindices/168259/6 "2019-02-13T17:41:11Z")
If you dial up the `loglevel` to `DEBUG`, it should show how it calculates index ages in the filters, and why an index is or is not selected. That will help explain what's going on here. ---
**Author:** ![pbabik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ac8455/32.png) [@pbabik](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/pbabik)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2019, 11:15am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/curator-skipping-action-alias-due-to-empty-list-class-curator-exceptions-noindices/168259/7 "2019-02-15T11:15:56Z")
I have the log but its too big to paste it here. The message is correct because in action id 6 , the REMOVE part is evaluated and curator correctly removes all indices from the list.. But the ADDing part is not evaluated at all and the process.action 78 and 79 are not executed. > grep process\_action curator.2019-02-13\_18\_44.log ```auto 2019-02-13 18:44:19,101 DEBUG curator.cli process_action:44 Configuration dictionary: {'action': 'alias', 'description': 'Add/Remove selected indices to or from the specified alias', 'options': {'name': 'analytics', 'warn_if_no_indices': False, 'extra_settings': {}}, 'add': {'filters': [{'filtertype': 'pattern', 'kind': 'regex', 'value': '^analytics', 'exclude': False}, {'filtertype': 'age', 'source': 'name', 'direction': 'younger', 'timestring': '%Y.%W', 'unit': 'weeks', 'unit_count': 2, 'exclude': False, 'stats_result': 'min_value', 'epoch': None}]}, 'remove': {'filters': [{'filtertype': 'pattern', 'kind': 'regex', 'value': '^analytics', 'exclude': False}, {'filtertype': 'age', 'source': 'name', 'direction': 'older', 'timestring': '%Y.%W', 'unit': 'weeks', 'unit_count': 2, 'exclude': False, 'stats_result': 'min_value', 'epoch': None}]}} 2019-02-13 18:44:19,101 DEBUG curator.cli process_action:45 kwargs: {'master_timeout': 30, 'dry_run': False} 2019-02-13 18:44:19,101 DEBUG curator.cli process_action:50 opts: {'name': 'analytics', 'warn_if_no_indices': False, 'extra_settings': {}} 2019-02-13 18:44:19,101 DEBUG curator.cli process_action:62 Action kwargs: {'name': 'analytics', 'warn_if_no_indices': False, 'extra_settings': {}} 2019-02-13 18:44:19,101 DEBUG curator.cli process_action:67 Running "ALIAS" action 2019-02-13 18:44:20,870 DEBUG curator.cli process_action:73 Removing indices from alias "analytics" 2019-02-13 18:44:20,904 DEBUG curator.cli process_action:78 Adding indices to alias "analytics" 2019-02-13 18:44:20,935 DEBUG curator.cli process_action:99 Doing the action here. 2019-02-13 18:44:21,002 DEBUG curator.cli process_action:44 Configuration dictionary: {'action': 'alias', 'description': 'Add/Remove selected indices to or from the specified alias', 'options': {'name': 'audit', 'warn_if_no_indices': False, 'extra_settings': {}}, 'add': {'filters': [{'filtertype': 'pattern', 'kind': 'prefix', 'value': 'audit-', 'exclude': False}, {'filtertype': 'age', 'source': 'name', 'direction': 'younger', 'timestring': '%Y.%m', 'unit': 'months', 'unit_count': 2, 'exclude': False, 'stats_result': 'min_value', 'epoch': None}]}, 'remove': {'filters': [{'filtertype': 'pattern', 'kind': 'prefix', 'value': 'audit-', 'exclude': False}, {'filtertype': 'age', 'source': 'name', 'direction': 'older', 'timestring': '%Y.%m', 'unit': 'months', 'unit_count': 2, 'exclude': False, 'stats_result': 'min_value', 'epoch': None}]}} 2019-02-13 18:44:21,002 DEBUG curator.cli process_action:45 kwargs: {'master_timeout': 30, 'dry_run': False} 2019-02-13 18:44:21,002 DEBUG curator.cli process_action:50 opts: {'name': 'audit', 'warn_if_no_indices': False, 'extra_settings': {}} 2019-02-13 18:44:21,003 DEBUG curator.cli process_action:62 Action kwargs: {'name': 'audit', 'warn_if_no_indices': False, 'extra_settings': {}} 2019-02-13 18:44:21,003 DEBUG curator.cli process_action:67 Running "ALIAS" action 2019-02-13 18:44:22,882 DEBUG curator.cli process_action:73 Removing indices from alias "audit" ``` ---
**Author:** ![theuntergeek](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/theuntergeek/32/44961_2.png) [@theuntergeek](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/theuntergeek)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2019, 2:39pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/curator-skipping-action-alias-due-to-empty-list-class-curator-exceptions-noindices/168259/8 "2019-02-15T14:39:08Z")
I appreciate that you're not seeing something finish, but I need to see why, and the `grep` will hide that. You can paste the relevant bits into a pastebin or GitHub gist and put the link here. ---
**Author:** ![pbabik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ac8455/32.png) [@pbabik](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/pbabik)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2019, 3:16pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/curator-skipping-action-alias-due-to-empty-list-class-curator-exceptions-noindices/168259/9 "2019-02-15T15:16:23Z")
Logs from action id 5 & 6 can be seen here: [https://pastebin.com/SMHdRvrQ](https://pastebin.com/SMHdRvrQ) ---
**Author:** ![theuntergeek](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/theuntergeek/32/44961_2.png) [@theuntergeek](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/theuntergeek)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2019, 3:46pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/curator-skipping-action-alias-due-to-empty-list-class-curator-exceptions-noindices/168259/10 "2019-02-15T15:46:55Z")
Okay, here's why you need `warn_if_no_indices: true` in your settings. It won't even evaluate the `add` portion if there are no indices in the `remove` block, or vice versa. ```auto 2019-02-13 18:44:22,901 DEBUG curator.indexlist __excludify:58 Removed from actionable list: Index "audit-2019.02" age (1548979200), direction: "older", point of reference, (1544895862) 2019-02-13 18:44:22,901 DEBUG curator.indexlist __not_actionable:39 Index audit-2019.01 is not actionable, removing from list. 2019-02-13 18:44:22,901 DEBUG curator.indexlist __excludify:58 Removed from actionable list: Index "audit-2019.01" age (1546300800), direction: "older", point of reference, (1544895862) 2019-02-13 18:44:22,901 DEBUG curator.indexlist iterate_filters:1184 Post-instance: [] 2019-02-13 18:44:22,901 DEBUG curator.utils isdatemath:1879 opener = a, closer = t 2019-02-13 18:44:22,901 DEBUG curator.indexlist empty_list_check:224 Checking for empty list 2019-02-13 18:44:22,901 INFO curator.cli run:175 Skipping action "alias" due to empty list: ``` The problem here is that actions in Curator are designed to catch empty list conditions and exit. However, Aliases are special, and have both `add` and `remove` filters, either or both of which might result in an empty list condition. A special work-around was added for this very use case, and it is the `warn_if_no_indices` option. See [this thread](https://github.com/elastic/curator/issues/1209) for more detailed information on what lead to that option being added. ---
**Author:** ![pbabik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ac8455/32.png) [@pbabik](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/pbabik)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2019, 5:04pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/curator-skipping-action-alias-due-to-empty-list-class-curator-exceptions-noindices/168259/11 "2019-02-15T17:04:37Z")
Amazing, it worked!! I would have never thought of this. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2019, 5:04pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/curator-skipping-action-alias-due-to-empty-list-class-curator-exceptions-noindices/168259/12 "2019-03-15T17:04:39Z")
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