# Elastic search over an already existing lucene index
**URL:** https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elastic-search-over-an-already-existing-lucene-index/6705
**Category:** Elasticsearch
**Created:** [February 14, 2012, 11:36am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elastic-search-over-an-already-existing-lucene-index/6705 "2012-02-14T11:36:18Z")
**Posts on this page:** 5
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Ramprakash\_Ramamoort](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Ramprakash_Ramamoort)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2012, 11:36am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elastic-search-over-an-already-existing-lucene-index/6705/1 "2012-02-14T11:36:18Z")
I have a system that uses lucene. Now for a few reasons I would like
to add a distributed search feature over it.
The question is can I use the existing lucene index created by the
IndexWriter of lucene, for searching with elastic search or should I
create a new index using ES's IndexWriter. Do note that the Lucene
version we have used is 2.3.1. Any help would be appreciated.
---
### Author:  [@Clinton\_Gormley](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Clinton_Gormley)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2012, 11:45am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elastic-search-over-an-already-existing-lucene-index/6705/2 "2012-02-14T11:45:33Z")
On Tue, 2012-02-14 at 03:36 -0800, Ramprakash Ramamoorthy wrote:
> I have a system that uses lucene. Now for a few reasons I would like
> to add a distributed search feature over it.
>
> The question is can I use the existing lucene index created by the
> IndexWriter of lucene, for searching with Elasticsearch or should I
> create a new index using ES's IndexWriter. Do note that the Lucene
> version we have used is 2.3.1. Any help would be appreciated.
You will need to reindex into Elasticsearch
clint
---
### Author:  [@Ramprakash\_Ramamoort](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Ramprakash_Ramamoort)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2012, 11:50am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elastic-search-over-an-already-existing-lucene-index/6705/3 "2012-02-14T11:50:38Z")
On Tue, Feb 14, 2012 at 5:15 PM, Clinton Gormley [clint@traveljury.com](mailto:clint@traveljury.com)wrote:
> On Tue, 2012-02-14 at 03:36 -0800, Ramprakash Ramamoorthy wrote:
>
> > I have a system that uses lucene. Now for a few reasons I would like
> > to add a distributed search feature over it.
> >
> > The question is can I use the existing lucene index created by the
> > IndexWriter of lucene, for searching with Elasticsearch or should I
> > create a new index using ES's IndexWriter. Do note that the Lucene
> > version we have used is 2.3.1. Any help would be appreciated.
>
> You will need to reindex into Elasticsearch
>
> clint
Dear clint,
```
Thanks for your answer. The idea behind me asking if I could
```
re-use the same index is that, I didn't want to disturb the
already existing lucene instance. If the only way is to re-index, then I
will have to look for some other option.
```
Just want to know if there is any other way other than re-indexing.
```
--
With Thanks and Regards,
Ramprakash Ramamoorthy,
Project Trainee,
Zoho Corporation.
+91 9626975420
---
### Author:  [@kimchy](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/kimchy)
#### Post date: [February 14, 2012, 2:54pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elastic-search-over-an-already-existing-lucene-index/6705/4 "2012-02-14T14:54:20Z")
No, you need to reindex.
On Tuesday, February 14, 2012 at 1:50 PM, Ramprakash Ramamoorthy wrote:
> On Tue, Feb 14, 2012 at 5:15 PM, Clinton Gormley \<[clint@traveljury.com](mailto:clint@traveljury.com) ([mailto:clint@traveljury.com](mailto:clint@traveljury.com))\> wrote:
>
> > On Tue, 2012-02-14 at 03:36 -0800, Ramprakash Ramamoorthy wrote:
> >
> > > I have a system that uses lucene. Now for a few reasons I would like
> > > to add a distributed search feature over it.
> > >
> > > The question is can I use the existing lucene index created by the
> > > IndexWriter of lucene, for searching with Elasticsearch or should I
> > > create a new index using ES's IndexWriter. Do note that the Lucene
> > > version we have used is 2.3.1. Any help would be appreciated.
> >
> > You will need to reindex into Elasticsearch
> >
> > clint
>
> Dear clint,
>
> ```
> Thanks for your answer. The idea behind me asking if I could re-use the same index is that, I didn't want to disturb the already existing lucene instance. If the only way is to re-index, then I will have to look for some other option.
>
> Just want to know if there is any other way other than re-indexing.
>
> ```
>
> --
> With Thanks and Regards,
> Ramprakash Ramamoorthy,
> Project Trainee,
> Zoho Corporation.
> +91 9626975420
---
### Author:  [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)
#### Post date: [July 6, 2017, 3:39am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/elastic-search-over-an-already-existing-lucene-index/6705/5 "2017-07-06T03:39:20Z")