# ILM, creation\_date and reindexing
**URL:** https://discuss.elastic.co/t/ilm-creation-date-and-reindexing/297469
**Category:** Elasticsearch
**Tags:** ilm-index-lifecycle-management
**Created:** [February 17, 2022, 10:02am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/ilm-creation-date-and-reindexing/297469 "2022-02-17T10:02:27Z")
**Posts on this page:** 6
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@nisow95612](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/nisow95612)
#### Post date: [February 17, 2022, 10:02am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/ilm-creation-date-and-reindexing/297469/1 "2022-02-17T10:02:27Z")
Hello Elastic people,
this is a follow-up to [Is it possible change creation\_date on reindexed Indexes to get Life cycle Management to work on old indexes](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/is-it-possible-change-creation-date-on-reindexed-indexes-to-get-life-cycle-management-to-work-on-old-indexes/183773)
My usecase - so to say - is learning to use ES while trying to build a new log storage.
I am still struggling to get the mappings right, which leads to the need to reindex a lot.
I would now like to learn to use the built-in ILM feature to make a hot-cold setup,
where data moves to cold after 6 months. Unfortunately, in the current state of affairs,
it seems that I'll have to wait 6 months from last reindex to do that.
While I don't have an argument for doing reindexation as part of the final workflow,
I'd still like to plea for the feature, because it will remove a barrier to learning ES I am facing.
Thank you!
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### Author:  [@nisow95612](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/nisow95612)
#### Post date: [February 18, 2022, 12:34pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/ilm-creation-date-and-reindexing/297469/2 "2022-02-18T12:34:37Z")
It seems that even [Clone index API | Elasticsearch Guide [master] | Elastic](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/master/indices-clone-index.html) resets creation\_date instead of preserving it, so I must also not rename any indices for 6 months before I can learn ILM.
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### Author:  [@Tomo\_M](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Tomo_M)
#### Post date: [February 20, 2022, 3:39pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/ilm-creation-date-and-reindexing/297469/3 "2022-02-20T15:39:46Z")
Why not try shorter time span for just testing purpose?
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### Author:  [@nisow95612](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/nisow95612)
#### Post date: [February 21, 2022, 10:17am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/ilm-creation-date-and-reindexing/297469/4 "2022-02-21T10:17:09Z")
Thank you for replying.
Not a bad idea. True, I can mostly prototype the thing with shorter intervals.
So you are correct, lack of this feature is not actually preventing me from learning ILM.
It is just preventing me from going the easy "set up and forget" route. I won't be able to actually benefit from ILM until my indices stabilise enough so they won't need reindexing any more. Until that I'll have to move my indices manually. And actually it is even worse, because I recently clone-renamed about 50% of my indices withing few hours. If I leave ILM enabled, it will try to move all of them at once.
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### Author:  [@dakrone](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/dakrone)
#### Post date: [February 22, 2022, 6:19pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/ilm-creation-date-and-reindexing/297469/5 "2022-02-22T18:19:15Z")
You can use the index setting `index.lifecycle.origination_date` to set a custom "age" for the index, so that if you were to reindex, you can tell ILM that it is a certain age without waiting for that long.
Here's a blog post about it: [Control the phase transition timings in ILM using the origination date | Elastic Blog](https://www.elastic.co/blog/control-ilm-phase-transition-timings-using-origination-date)
And the reference documentation: [Index lifecycle management settings in Elasticsearch | Elasticsearch Guide [8.0] | Elastic](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/8.0/ilm-settings.html#_index_level_settings)
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### Author:  [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)
#### Post date: [March 22, 2022, 6:19pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/ilm-creation-date-and-reindexing/297469/6 "2022-03-22T18:19:47Z")
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