# Index Roller Policy not working

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/index-roller-policy-not-working/262553>\
**Category:** Elasticsearch\
**Created:** [January 28, 2021, 7:23pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/index-roller-policy-not-working/262553 "2021-01-28T19:23:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![sureshdpawar](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/sureshdpawar/32/81309_2.png) [@sureshdpawar](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/sureshdpawar)\
**Post date:** [January 28, 2021, 7:23pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/index-roller-policy-not-working/262553/1 "2021-01-28T19:23:00Z")

</div>

> **[Tutorial: Automate rollover with ILM | Elasticsearch Reference \[7.x\] | Elastic](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/7.x/getting-started-index-lifecycle-management.html#ilm-gs-alias-apply-policy)**

  
I am referring to above document to automate rollover with ILM.  
I am doing it without data streams and by using an ILM index alias,  
I created a lifecycle policy as named as timeseires\_policy with below setting  
{  
"index": {  
"lifecycle": {  
"name": "timeseries\_policy",  
"rollover\_alias": "timeseries"  
},  
"number\_of\_shards": "1",  
"number\_of\_replicas": "1"  
}  
}  
i have assigned the ILM policy to index template.

I have created a bootstrap index named timeseries-00001 with below setting  
{  
"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": "timeseries\_policy",  
"index.lifecycle.rollover\_alias": "timeseries",  
"index.priority": "100",  
"index.number\_of\_replicas": "1"  
}

then i created two indexes timeseries-2021.01-27 and timeeries.2021.01.28

the index rollover is not working as expected and i get the below error  
Index lifecycle error

illegal\_argument\_exception: index.lifecycle.rollover\_alias [timeseries] does not point to index [timeseries-2021.01.27]

Not sure what is missing in order to make this work. Please Help.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![HenningAndersen](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/henningandersen/32/48188_2.png) [@HenningAndersen](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/HenningAndersen)\
**Post date:** [January 29, 2021, 12:37pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/index-roller-policy-not-working/262553/2 "2021-01-29T12:37:38Z")

</div>

Hi,

can you show us the output of:

```auto
GET timeseries-2021.01-27

```

and

```auto
GET timeseries

```

and

```auto
GET timeseries-00001

```

and

```auto
GET _ilm/policy/timeseries_policy

```

and

```auto
GET _template/*

```

It sounds like there is a misunderstanding on the indices and alias. You need one index, for instance `timeseries-0000001`, which must have a write alias on it. I think you are missing the alias definition on that index? Also, I am not sure what the two other indices timeseries-2021.01-27 and timeseries.2021.01.28 should do here.

Notice that upgrading to 7.9+ allows you to use data streams, which makes this easier.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![sureshdpawar](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/sureshdpawar/32/81309_2.png) [@sureshdpawar](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/sureshdpawar)\
**Post date:** [February 1, 2021, 4:39am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/index-roller-policy-not-working/262553/3 "2021-02-01T04:39:57Z")

</div>

Thanks for the reply. yeah i was misunderstood about the alias name, i dont think i need those two indices timeseries-2021.01-27 and timeseries.2021.01.28  
things seems to be working now, based on ILM policy the indices are getting created and executing hot/warm/cold phases.

---

<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:** [March 1, 2021, 4:40am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/index-roller-policy-not-working/262553/4 "2021-03-01T04:40:51Z")

</div>

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