# "Incorrect HTTP method for uri" when PUTting \_index\_template

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/incorrect-http-method-for-uri-when-putting-index-template/237299>\
**Category:** Elasticsearch\
**Created:** [June 16, 2020, 12:55pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/incorrect-http-method-for-uri-when-putting-index-template/237299 "2020-06-16T12:55:54Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mujina93](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dfb087/32.png) [@mujina93](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/mujina93)\
**Post date:** [June 16, 2020, 12:55pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/incorrect-http-method-for-uri-when-putting-index-template/237299/1 "2020-06-16T12:55:54Z")

</div>

I am trying to create an index template. Following the examples in [getting-started-index-lifecycle-management](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/master/getting-started-index-lifecycle-management.html) and [indices-templates](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/master/indices-templates.html) I'm trying with a `PUT` request that looks like:

```auto
http://<elasticsearch_ip>:9200/_index_template/name-of-index-template

```

with body:

```auto
{
	"index_patterns": [
		"some.*.thing"
	],
	"data_stream": {
		"timestamp_field": "tsField"
	},
	"template": {
		"mappings": {
			"dynamic": true,
			"date_detection": true,
			"dynamic_date_formats": [
				"epoch_millis"
			],
			"numeric_detection": false,
			"_source": {
				"enabled": false,
				"includes": [],
				"excludes": []
			},
			"_routing": {
				"required": false
			},
			"meta": {},
			"properties": {
				"someId": {
					"type": "keyword",
					"ignore_above": 256,
					"norms": false
				},
				"some_metric": {
					"type": "float"
				},
				"some_boolean": {
					"type": "byte"
				},
				"tsField": {
					"type": "date",
					"format": "epoch_millis"
				}
			}
		},
		"settings": {
			"number_of_shards": 1,
			"number_of_replicas": 1,
			"index.lifecycle.name": "retention-1-week"
		}
	}
}

```

but I get the following error:

```auto
{
  "error": "Incorrect HTTP method for uri [/_index_template/name-of-index-template] and method [PUT], allowed: [POST]",
  "status": 405
}

```

Would you know what's wrong with how I structured my request?

Thanks in advance.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Bernt\_Rostad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3ab097/32.png) [@Bernt\_Rostad](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Bernt_Rostad)\
**Post date:** [June 16, 2020, 2:29pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/incorrect-http-method-for-uri-when-putting-index-template/237299/2 "2020-06-16T14:29:13Z")

</div>

> [@mujina93](#):
>
> `_index_template`

There is no such end point. Just remove the "\_index" part and try again, e.g.

`PUT http://localhost:9200/_template/your_template_name`

You may also want to review that **index\_patterns** value, in my experience it's usually better to have a trailing wildcard matching the indices you want to create with that particular template rather than have a wildcard in the middle of the pattern. This is particularly important if you want to create some sort of template hierarchy in your cluster - perhaps a general template with common fields and then more specialized templates for special fields or shard settings.

You can apply several index templates in a hierarchical fashion when creating one index, you do so by defining the template **order** and a stricter **index\_patterns** for the higher orders. It's a bit like inheritance for index templates 🙂 For an example of this, see [Good practice for index templates in ES](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/good-practice-for-index-templates-in-es/180116/5).

Good luck!

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mujina93](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dfb087/32.png) [@mujina93](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/mujina93)\
**Post date:** [June 17, 2020, 8:57am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/incorrect-http-method-for-uri-when-putting-index-template/237299/3 "2020-06-17T08:57:30Z")

</div>

Thank you!

Ah, I see what the problem was. I just noticed a banner at the top of the 2 pages I linked:

> You are looking at preliminary documentation for a future release. Not what you want? See the [current release documentation](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/index.html).

Apparently the default for the documentation pages is to show information _from the future_ (version 8.0, not out yet, while the current one - which I am using - is 7.7). That's a little confusing, I struggle to understand why that's the case.

Anyway, now I discovered that _in the present_ there is still no distinction between index templates (whose endpoint _will be_ `_index_template`) and component templates (endpoint `_component_template`). Moreover, there is no concept and optimization for data streams (sending my request with the `data_stream` field results in a ` "unknown key [data_stream] in the template "` error (but I won't in version 8.0).

Regarding the pattern structure and template inheritance: thank you for the valuable information. It's not something I have a use for at the moment (I just have a few indices, and the pattern format that I have is just mimicking the names of kafka topics that elasticsearch is ingesting, and they are very specific, all with the same fields/properties, and only distinguished by the name in the middle). But I will keep the possibility in mind!

Thank you.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mujina93](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dfb087/32.png) [@mujina93](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/mujina93)\
**Post date:** [June 17, 2020, 9:46am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/incorrect-http-method-for-uri-when-putting-index-template/237299/4 "2020-06-17T09:46:36Z")

</div>

Actually, I have a question on patterns.

Reading the 7.7 version of "Automate rollover with ILM" (my first link), I noticed that it's possible to specify an `"index.lifecycle.rollover_alias"` field under `"settings"` in the template.

The example uses a pattern for the index with a wildcard in the end, so that it can match all indices of the form `datastream-<number>` (with `<number>` that increments automatically on rollover).

In my case I would need to be general (use wildcards) both _in the middle_ and _at the end_ of the index name.

Imagine my indices are of the form `project_name.city.responsibility`. For example `project_name` is `ml` for Machine Learning and `responsibility` is `eval` for Evaluation (real-time stream of performance metrics on some ML predictions, for a given city). The `ml` and `eval` part are fixed, while the `city` can change (I have multiple cities, and all the `eval` streams for them have the same structure, hence my need for using a pattern of the form `ml.*.eval`).

I also need rollover on all of them, though. Therefore, if I understood the way to "impose a retention window" in elasticsearch, I should activate automatic rollover on my indices, plus some ILM policy with deletion for old data (I would have indices like `ml.paris.eval-0003`, and after X days I would have `ml.paris.eval-0004`, while `ml.paris.eval-0003` is moved to deletion). Finally, I would need an alias over them, so that I can refer to whatever is the current rolled-over index without specifying the numeric part at the end (I can always use `ml.paris.eval` in place of `ml.paris.eval-<most-recent-number>`).

I hope my scenario is clear. Basically I need to be generic both in the middle of indices' names (variability over `city`) **and** at the end of them (for matching automatically rolled-over indices).

So now my question is: is there a way to specify a "generic alias" in `"index.lifecycle.rollover_alias"`?

I would like to have in my template:

```auto
"index_patterns": ["ml.*.eval-*"]

```

and then:

```auto
"index.lifecycle.rollover_alias": "ml.*.eval"

```

but this is not possible.

Do I have to create a different template for every city? (All templates would be identical, except for the index name and the alias, which would contain the city "hardcoded" inside, and I would use the pattern there only for the rollover & alias functionality)

Or is this a use case for template inheritance that you were advocating for? (A template to match generic cities and a template to match the final numeric part that comes from rollover and impose aliases? I'm not sure how would I mix them in this case. Perhaps you can help here).

---

<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 15, 2020, 9:46am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/incorrect-http-method-for-uri-when-putting-index-template/237299/5 "2020-07-15T09:46:36Z")

</div>

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