# Empty Indexes?

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/empty-indexes/154466>\
**Category:** Elasticsearch\
**Created:** [October 29, 2018, 4:05pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/empty-indexes/154466 "2018-10-29T16:05:12Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 17\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![KuboMD](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/kubomd/32/37053_2.png) [@KuboMD](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/KuboMD)\
**Post date:** [October 29, 2018, 4:05pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/empty-indexes/154466/1 "2018-10-29T16:05:12Z")

</div>

Hi there,  
I'm running a Graylog server. I accidentally deleted the contents of my index folders.

> `/var/lib/elasticsearch/nodes/0/indices/TkNxWZ2BQmGznq5Xv77CxQ/3/index# ls`  
> Returns nothing. The same goes for my 0, 1, and 2/index.

I'm not worried about the lost data, but Graylog won't function without Elasticsearch. How can I restore the contents of the folders to a working state?

Thanks

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dadoonet](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/dadoonet/32/137187_2.png) [@dadoonet](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/dadoonet)\
**Post date:** [October 29, 2018, 4:21pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/empty-indexes/154466/2 "2018-10-29T16:21:41Z")

</div>

DELETE the missing index from the API.  
That should fix it I guess.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![KuboMD](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/kubomd/32/37053_2.png) [@KuboMD](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/KuboMD)\
**Post date:** [October 29, 2018, 4:46pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/empty-indexes/154466/3 "2018-10-29T16:46:18Z")

</div>

David,  
Sorry. Do you mean I should remove the `/var/lib/elastichsearch/nodes/0/indices/TkNxWZ2BQmGznq5Xv77CxQ` directory?

Thanks

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dadoonet](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/dadoonet/32/137187_2.png) [@dadoonet](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/dadoonet)\
**Post date:** [October 29, 2018, 5:02pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/empty-indexes/154466/4 "2018-10-29T17:02:07Z")

</div>

No I meant running

```
DELETE indexname

```

From Kibana or from curl

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![KuboMD](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/kubomd/32/37053_2.png) [@KuboMD](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/KuboMD)\
**Post date:** [October 29, 2018, 5:19pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/empty-indexes/154466/5 "2018-10-29T17:19:26Z")

</div>

David,  
Thanks for the reply.  
Before I try that I've got to ask, will Elasticsearch create a new index automatically?

Thanks

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dadoonet](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/dadoonet/32/137187_2.png) [@dadoonet](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/dadoonet)\
**Post date:** [October 29, 2018, 7:38pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/empty-indexes/154466/6 "2018-10-29T19:38:35Z")

</div>

Only if you send new data to it.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![KuboMD](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/kubomd/32/37053_2.png) [@KuboMD](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/KuboMD)\
**Post date:** [October 29, 2018, 8:01pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/empty-indexes/154466/7 "2018-10-29T20:01:02Z")

</div>

Gotcha. Thanks David

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![KuboMD](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/kubomd/32/37053_2.png) [@KuboMD](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/KuboMD)\
**Post date:** [November 2, 2018, 12:08pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/empty-indexes/154466/8 "2018-11-02T12:08:29Z")

</div>

Hi David,  
I was hoping maybe you'd be able to assist me here. I did some reading on the API so I'm now able to pass:

```
curl -X DELETE 'http://localhost:9200/indices/TkNxWZ2BQmGznq5Xv77CxQ/0?pretty'

```

but the response I get is:

```
{
  "found" : false,
  "_index" : "indices",
  "_type" : "TkNxWZ2BQmGznq5Xv77CxQ",
  "_id" : "0",
  "_version" : 1,
  "result" : "not_found",
  "_shards" : {
    "total" : 2,
    "successful" : 1,
    "failed" : 0
  }
}

```

I've got three indexes that I want to erase before I restart my server, but I can't seem to get the "result" : "deleted" message.

Thanks again

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dadoonet](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/dadoonet/32/137187_2.png) [@dadoonet](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/dadoonet)\
**Post date:** [November 2, 2018, 12:20pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/empty-indexes/154466/9 "2018-11-02T12:20:16Z")

</div>

This is not a valid index name.  
You are calling here the Delete Document API.

What are the index names you want to remove?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![KuboMD](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/kubomd/32/37053_2.png) [@KuboMD](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/KuboMD)\
**Post date:** [November 2, 2018, 12:29pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/empty-indexes/154466/10 "2018-11-02T12:29:55Z")

</div>

> [@dadoonet](#):
>
> what are the index names you want to remove?

```
/rXPAWDDOTZCFutcZ6zGwew/0
/rXPAWDDOTZCFutcZ6zGwew/1
/rXPAWDDOTZCFutcZ6zGwew/2
/rXPAWDDOTZCFutcZ6zGwew/3

/TkNxWZ2BQmGznq5Xv77CxQ/0
/TkNxWZ2BQmGznq5Xv77CxQ/1
/TkNxWZ2BQmGznq5Xv77CxQ/2
/TkNxWZ2BQmGznq5Xv77CxQ/3

/SfiLdN55RMqH6LjLzn_StA/0
/SfiLdN55RMqH6LjLzn_StA/1
/SfiLdN55RMqH6LjLzn_StA/2
/SfiLdN55RMqH6LjLzn_StA/3

```

I believe these are the indexes and their IDs...I'm not too familiar so maybe I'm mistaken. Is there an API to delete a whole index or must I recursively delete each document within an index?

Thanks for your continued help

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dadoonet](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/dadoonet/32/137187_2.png) [@dadoonet](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/dadoonet)\
**Post date:** [November 2, 2018, 1:13pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/empty-indexes/154466/11 "2018-11-02T13:13:18Z")

</div>

I meant the index name not the directory names on disk. You should never look at this.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![KuboMD](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/kubomd/32/37053_2.png) [@KuboMD](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/KuboMD)\
**Post date:** [November 2, 2018, 1:54pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/empty-indexes/154466/12 "2018-11-02T13:54:42Z")

</div>

Oh I see.  
This is the only "Indices" I can find on my server.

 ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/3/b/3b423c780c4576d1dbefccd3d6b6ebfd417398a0.png)  
Is the name for the index = the prefix?

Thanks

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dadoonet](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/dadoonet/32/137187_2.png) [@dadoonet](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/dadoonet)\
**Post date:** [November 2, 2018, 2:25pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/empty-indexes/154466/13 "2018-11-02T14:25:21Z")

</div>

Run

```auto
GET /_cat/indices?v

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![KuboMD](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/kubomd/32/37053_2.png) [@KuboMD](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/KuboMD)\
**Post date:** [November 2, 2018, 2:30pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/empty-indexes/154466/14 "2018-11-02T14:30:26Z")

</div>

```
curl -X GET 'http://localhost:9200/_cat/indices?v'
health status index uuid pri rep docs.count docs.deleted store.size pri.store.size
red open graylog_0 TkNxWZ2BQmGznq5Xv77CxQ 4 0                                                  
green open graylog_1 rXPAWDDOTZCFutcZ6zGwew 4 0 1211736 0 405.4mb 405.4mb
green open syslog__0 SfiLdN55RMqH6LjLzn_StA 4 0 0 0 648b 648b
yellow open indices llXr2lFeS72xcrr2yyzgRg 5 1 0 0 839b 839b

```

David, here's the output.  
Can I use the delete command on the "graylog\_0" index to have it regenerated?

Thanks again.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![dadoonet](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/dadoonet/32/137187_2.png) [@dadoonet](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/dadoonet)\
**Post date:** [November 2, 2018, 2:35pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/empty-indexes/154466/15 "2018-11-02T14:35:14Z")

</div>

So if you want to remove index `graylog_0`, run:

```auto
DELETE /graylog_0

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![KuboMD](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/kubomd/32/37053_2.png) [@KuboMD](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/KuboMD)\
**Post date:** [November 2, 2018, 3:30pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/empty-indexes/154466/16 "2018-11-02T15:30:45Z")

</div>

> [@dadoonet](#):
>
> DELETE /graylog\_0

```
{
  "acknowledged" : true
}

```

Looks good!  
I used PUT /graylog\_0 to recreate it.  
I restarted my services and now it's working fine!

Thanks for your patience David. Elasticsearch is a very cool platform.

---

<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:** [November 30, 2018, 3:30pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/empty-indexes/154466/17 "2018-11-30T15:30:57Z")

</div>

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