# Kibana system indices

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/kibana-system-indices/253538>\
**Category:** Kibana\
**Created:** [October 28, 2020, 9:45am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/kibana-system-indices/253538 "2020-10-28T09:45:05Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![congwensheng](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/congwensheng/32/65458_2.png) [@congwensheng](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/congwensheng)\
**Post date:** [October 28, 2020, 9:45am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/kibana-system-indices/253538/1 "2020-10-28T09:45:05Z")

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the elasticsearch version is 7.9.2  
i found there are some system indices  
.kibana-event-log-7.9.2-000001  
.kibana\_task\_manager\_1  
.monitoring-kibana-7-2020.10.28  
.kibana\_2  
.kibana\_1  
I can't figure out how these indexes come from，can i delete them.Which configuration should I modify in the kibana.yaml in order to delete them?why there are two system indices named .kibana\_1 and .kibana\_2,What is their role

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**Author:** ![bhavyarm](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/bhavyarm/32/22392_2.png) [@bhavyarm](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/bhavyarm)\
**Post date:** [October 29, 2020, 9:16pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/kibana-system-indices/253538/2 "2020-10-29T21:16:24Z")

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Hello,

These are internal kibana indices and it is not advisable to delete them. They are used by Kibana to make sure various applications work fine.

.kibana\_1 and .kibana\_2 are created during saved object migration. Did you upgrade from a previous version? In which case - .kibana\_2 would be an alias to .kibana\_1 and was created to make sure migration(upgrade) went through fine.

cc @LeeDr

Thanks,  
Bhavya

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**Author:** ![rashmi](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/rashmi/32/16391_2.png) [@rashmi](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/rashmi)\
**Post date:** [October 29, 2020, 9:47pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/kibana-system-indices/253538/3 "2020-10-29T21:47:14Z")

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> [@congwensheng](#):
>
> .kibana\_2  
> .kibana\_1

Is this a fresh install ?

Those `.kibana_<id>` indexes are due to upgrades if you have done one. The index to which the `.kibana` alias points to is the current index. All the other ones can be safely deleted (except `.kibana_task_manager` of course) unless you might downgrade to a previous version.

If you want to back up your kibana data, you can simply snapshot and restore the `.kibana` indices.

If you want to know exactly why Kibana does this and how it does it, you can [read this troubleshooting guide](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/kibana/current/upgrade-migrations.html).

The bottom line is that you should not delete the `.kibana` alias and let Kibana do its job, because you will certainly undergo another migration when you upgrade to the next version.

Thanks  
Rashmi

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**Author:** ![borg](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/borg/32/78116_2.png) [@borg](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/borg)\
**Post date:** [October 30, 2020, 1:29am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/kibana-system-indices/253538/4 "2020-10-30T01:29:28Z")

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But I just restart Kibana and multiple indexes appear.Sometimes it goes to .kibana\_4  
I wonder if this situation has something to do with the stability of ElasticSearch  
If there is a timeout, this will happen

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**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\
**Post date:** [November 27, 2020, 1:29am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/kibana-system-indices/253538/5 "2020-11-27T01:29:28Z")

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