# Delete older documents

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/delete-older-documents/41754>\
**Category:** Logstash\
**Created:** [February 15, 2016, 9:37am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/delete-older-documents/41754 "2016-02-15T09:37:46Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Croos](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/croos/32/29489_2.png) [@Croos](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Croos)\
**Post date:** [February 15, 2016, 9:37am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/delete-older-documents/41754/1 "2016-02-15T09:37:46Z")

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It is possible to delete existing older document from elasticsearch by schedule using logstash?  
My current config file is following,

```
input {
  jdbc {
    jdbc_driver_library => "mysql-connector-java-5.1.38-bin.jar"
    jdbc_driver_class => "com.mysql.jdbc.Driver"
    jdbc_connection_string => "jdbc:mysql://192.168.10.6/asterisk?user=cron&password=1234"
    jdbc_user => "Croos"
    parameters => {
    
    }
    schedule => "* * * * *"
    clean_run =>true
    statement => "SELECT * from vicidial_log WHERE start_epoch > :sql_last_value"
    use_column_value => true
    tracking_column => start_epoch
  }
}

output {
  stdout { 
    codec => rubydebug 
  }

  elasticsearch {
    hosts => ["localhost:9200"]
  }
}
```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![magnusbaeck](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/magnusbaeck/32/44943_2.png) [@magnusbaeck](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/magnusbaeck)\
**Post date:** [February 15, 2016, 9:45am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/delete-older-documents/41754/2 "2016-02-15T09:45:40Z")

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The recommended way is using time-series indexes, i.e. indexes with a date and/or time in their names. You're already doing that now; your data ends up in logstash-YYYY.MM.DD indexes. Then use [Curator](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/client/curator/current/index.html) to for example delete indexes older than a certain number of days.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**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, 5:11am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/delete-older-documents/41754/3 "2017-07-06T05:11:32Z")

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