# Indices in delete phase are actually not being deleted

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/indices-in-delete-phase-are-actually-not-being-deleted/256462>\
**Category:** Elasticsearch\
**Tags:** ilm-index-lifecycle-management\
**Created:** [November 24, 2020, 8:18am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/indices-in-delete-phase-are-actually-not-being-deleted/256462 "2020-11-24T08:18:13Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Dabo\_Sata](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/dabo_sata/32/77845_2.png) [@Dabo\_Sata](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Dabo_Sata)\
**Post date:** [November 24, 2020, 8:18am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/indices-in-delete-phase-are-actually-not-being-deleted/256462/1 "2020-11-24T08:18:13Z")

</div>

Hi,  
I have some metricbeat indices that are in delete phase but the actual deletion does not occur. If I run \_ilm/explain on one of those indices I get:

```auto
    {
      "indices" : {
        "metricbeat-7.10.0-2020.11.19-000001" : {
          "index" : "metricbeat-7.10.0-2020.11.19-000001",
          "managed" : true,
          "policy" : "metricbeat",
          "lifecycle_date_millis" : 1605869440837,
          "age" : "3.88d",
          "phase" : "delete",
          "phase_time_millis" : 1606129240686,
          "action" : "complete",
          "action_time_millis" : 1605869442625,
          "step" : "complete",
          "step_time_millis" : 1606129240686,
          "phase_execution" : {
            "policy" : "metricbeat",
            "phase_definition" : {
              "min_age" : "3d",
              "actions" : { }
            },
            "version" : 2,
            "modified_date_in_millis" : 1605613648253
          }
        }
      }
    }

```

The ILM policy linked to that index has an active delete phase after 3 days from rollover. Is there something different to do in order to trigger the actual deletion of the indices?

Best regards

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Christian\_Dahlqvist](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/christian_dahlqvist/32/4617_2.png) [@Christian\_Dahlqvist](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Christian_Dahlqvist)\
**Post date:** [November 24, 2020, 8:21am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/indices-in-delete-phase-are-actually-not-being-deleted/256462/2 "2020-11-24T08:21:21Z")

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What does your policy look like?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Dabo\_Sata](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/dabo_sata/32/77845_2.png) [@Dabo\_Sata](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Dabo_Sata)\
**Post date:** [November 24, 2020, 8:25am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/indices-in-delete-phase-are-actually-not-being-deleted/256462/3 "2020-11-24T08:25:23Z")

</div>

Here is my ILM policy:

```auto
{
  "metricbeat" : {
    "version" : 2,
    "modified_date" : "2020-11-17T11:47:28.253Z",
    "policy" : {
      "phases" : {
        "hot" : {
          "min_age" : "0ms",
          "actions" : {
            "rollover" : {
              "max_size" : "1gb",
              "max_age" : "1d"
            }
          }
        },
        "delete" : {
          "min_age" : "3d",
          "actions" : { }
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Christian\_Dahlqvist](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/christian_dahlqvist/32/4617_2.png) [@Christian\_Dahlqvist](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Christian_Dahlqvist)\
**Post date:** [November 24, 2020, 8:27am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/indices-in-delete-phase-are-actually-not-being-deleted/256462/4 "2020-11-24T08:27:45Z")

</div>

Your delete phase does not contain any [delete action](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/7.9/ilm-delete.html), which I suspect is why it is not deleted.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Dabo\_Sata](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/dabo_sata/32/77845_2.png) [@Dabo\_Sata](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Dabo_Sata)\
**Post date:** [November 24, 2020, 8:30am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/indices-in-delete-phase-are-actually-not-being-deleted/256462/5 "2020-11-24T08:30:51Z")

</div>

Thank you Christian,  
you saved my day!

Regards

---

<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:** [December 22, 2020, 8:30am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/indices-in-delete-phase-are-actually-not-being-deleted/256462/6 "2020-12-22T08:30:56Z")

</div>

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