# Index not deleting according ilm policy

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/index-not-deleting-according-ilm-policy/276265>\
**Category:** Elasticsearch\
**Tags:** elastic-stack-monitoring, ilm-index-lifecycle-management\
**Created:** [June 17, 2021, 12:11pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/index-not-deleting-according-ilm-policy/276265 "2021-06-17T12:11:29Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 13\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![vikramdayma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a698b9/32.png) [@vikramdayma](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/vikramdayma)\
**Post date:** [June 17, 2021, 12:11pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/index-not-deleting-according-ilm-policy/276265/1 "2021-06-17T12:11:29Z")

</div>

Hi,  
I created an ILM policy and applied to system index (.monitoring-es-7-2021.06.10).  
But index is not deleting after ILM time.  
It is showing error.

```auto
illegal_argument_exception: setting [index.lifecycle.rollover_alias] for index [.monitoring-es-7-2021.06.10] is empty or not defined

```

My setting is

```auto
{
  "index.blocks.read_only_allow_delete": "false",
  "index.query.default_field": [
    "*"
  ],
  "index.refresh_interval": "1s",
  "index.write.wait_for_active_shards": "1",
  "index.lifecycle.name": "custom-monitoring-policy",
  "index.routing.allocation.include._tier_preference": "data_content",
  "index.auto_expand_replicas": "0-1",
  "index.priority": "100",
  "index.number_of_replicas": "0"
}

```

Thanks  
Vikram Singh

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![alfredo.deluca](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/alfredo.deluca/32/95381_2.png) [@alfredo.deluca](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/alfredo.deluca)\
**Post date:** [June 17, 2021, 1:55pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/index-not-deleting-according-ilm-policy/276265/2 "2021-06-17T13:55:41Z")

</div>

Hi Vikram  
I am getting the same error and I can't figure out why. I have plenty of docs... but I can't make it right.  
this link is supposed to be the right docs... but still not working.

[https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/beats/metricbeat/6.8/ilm.html](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/beats/metricbeat/6.8/ilm.html)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![vikramdayma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a698b9/32.png) [@vikramdayma](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/vikramdayma)\
**Post date:** [June 18, 2021, 4:26am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/index-not-deleting-according-ilm-policy/276265/3 "2021-06-18T04:26:29Z")

</div>

Hi Alfredo,  
I also try but problem not solved.  
I searched 2 links but still facing problem. I think it will help you to figure error.

1. [I just want a simple ILM rollover policy](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/i-just-want-a-simple-ilm-rollover-policy/175269)
2. [Index lifecycle error - illegal\_argument\_exception: index.lifecycle.rollover\_alias - #2 by rashmi](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/index-lifecycle-error-illegal-argument-exception-index-lifecycle-rollover-alias/207900/2)

Vikram Singh

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![alfredo.deluca](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/alfredo.deluca/32/95381_2.png) [@alfredo.deluca](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/alfredo.deluca)\
**Post date:** [June 18, 2021, 6:51am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/index-not-deleting-according-ilm-policy/276265/4 "2021-06-18T06:51:29Z")

</div>

Thanks Vikram  
Did you fix the issue tho?

/Alf

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![vikramdayma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a698b9/32.png) [@vikramdayma](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/vikramdayma)\
**Post date:** [June 18, 2021, 7:30am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/index-not-deleting-according-ilm-policy/276265/5 "2021-06-18T07:30:10Z")

</div>

Yes,

I disable rollover option in respected ILM policy. And add `"index.lifecycle.rollover_alias": "timeseries"` line in index settings. And it start working. 😀

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![alfredo.deluca](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/alfredo.deluca/32/95381_2.png) [@alfredo.deluca](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/alfredo.deluca)\
**Post date:** [June 23, 2021, 7:41pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/index-not-deleting-according-ilm-policy/276265/6 "2021-06-23T19:41:34Z")

</div>

Hi Vikram. Did you fix that issue or is still on?  
Cheers

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![vikramdayma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a698b9/32.png) [@vikramdayma](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/vikramdayma)\
**Post date:** [June 24, 2021, 10:38am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/index-not-deleting-according-ilm-policy/276265/7 "2021-06-24T10:38:17Z")

</div>

Hi alfredo,  
It is fixed. working perfectly.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![alfredo.deluca](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/alfredo.deluca/32/95381_2.png) [@alfredo.deluca](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/alfredo.deluca)\
**Post date:** [June 24, 2021, 7:55pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/index-not-deleting-according-ilm-policy/276265/8 "2021-06-24T19:55:30Z")

</div>

Hi Vikram. Thanks and I am glad that it all worked out.

Still having issue here..

What can you see wrong/need to change in the following setting? I am using helm with terraform so I'll post just the elastic part of it.

[cloud.id](http://cloud.id): "${cid}"  
cloud.auth: "${cau}"  
setup.ilm.enabled: false  
setup.ilm.rollover\_alias: "${app}"  
[setup.template.name](http://setup.template.name): "${app}"  
setup.template.pattern: "${app}-metricbeat-${env}-_"  
setup.dashboards.index: "${app}-metricbeat-${env}-_"  
setup.template.settings.index.lifecycle.rollover\_alias: "${app}"  
[setup.template.settings.index.lifecycle.name](http://setup.template.settings.index.lifecycle.name): "${app}-policy"  
[setup.kibana.space.id](http://setup.kibana.space.id): "${app}"  
output.elasticsearch:  
index: "${app}-metricbeat-${env}-%%{[agent.version]}-%%{+yyyy.MM.dd}"

Cheers

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![vikramdayma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a698b9/32.png) [@vikramdayma](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/vikramdayma)\
**Post date:** [June 25, 2021, 6:19am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/index-not-deleting-according-ilm-policy/276265/9 "2021-06-25T06:19:39Z")

</div>

Hi Alfredo,  
I think `setup.ilm.enabled: false` should be true or auto.

I hope this link will help  
[Configure index lifecycle management | Metricbeat Reference [7.13] | Elastic](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/beats/metricbeat/current/ilm.html)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![alfredo.deluca](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/alfredo.deluca/32/95381_2.png) [@alfredo.deluca](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/alfredo.deluca)\
**Post date:** [June 25, 2021, 3:09pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/index-not-deleting-according-ilm-policy/276265/10 "2021-06-25T15:09:43Z")

</div>

Thanks.  
Also if I want to change the index name in a custom name?

/Alf

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![vikramdayma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a698b9/32.png) [@vikramdayma](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/vikramdayma)\
**Post date:** [June 28, 2021, 6:16am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/index-not-deleting-according-ilm-policy/276265/11 "2021-06-28T06:16:49Z")

</div>

Hi Alfredo,

you can use alias for custom name to index.

Reference  
[Index Aliases | Elasticsearch Guide [6.8] | Elastic](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/6.8/indices-aliases.html#:~:text=An%20alias%20can%20also%20be,same%20name%20as%20an%20index.)

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![alfredo.deluca](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/alfredo.deluca/32/95381_2.png) [@alfredo.deluca](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/alfredo.deluca)\
**Post date:** [July 1, 2021, 10:30am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/index-not-deleting-according-ilm-policy/276265/12 "2021-07-01T10:30:04Z")

</div>

Thanks Vikram

I ve been doing some tests on this but in the end... if I have ilm.enabled auto or true I can't have a custom index cause  
**output.elasticsearch:**

**index: "${app}-metricbeat-${env}-%%{[agent.version]}-%%{+yyyy.MM.dd}"**

is ignored and I got instead metricbeat-etcetc or a name that I creat (like myapp).

If I have ilm.enabled to FALSE I can have my template,pattern and custom index but the lifecycle doesn't work and I got errors

I can't understand why!!!

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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 29, 2021, 10:30am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/index-not-deleting-according-ilm-policy/276265/13 "2021-07-29T10:30:35Z")

</div>

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