# Lifecycle policies don't work

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/lifecycle-policies-dont-work/276218>\
**Category:** Elasticsearch\
**Tags:** ilm-index-lifecycle-management\
**Created:** [June 17, 2021, 5:03am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/lifecycle-policies-dont-work/276218 "2021-06-17T05:03:12Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 8

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**Author:** ![stephenb](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/stephenb/32/40856_2.png) [@stephenb](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/stephenb)\
**Post date:** [June 17, 2021, 6:10am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/lifecycle-policies-dont-work/276218/8 "2021-06-17T06:10:28Z")

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ILM is not really intended to be used on 1m lifecycle. I Do not believe You will achieve your desired behavior. My understanding is that ILM is an opportunistic background task it is not preemptive so it is not going to execute on the exact time frame.

It's designed to work on the order of hours or days not minutes.

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