# Modifying Elasticsearch Basic License

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/modifying-elasticsearch-basic-license/180065>\
**Category:** Elasticsearch\
**Tags:** license\
**Created:** [May 7, 2019, 9:09pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/modifying-elasticsearch-basic-license/180065 "2019-05-07T21:09:02Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Tyler\_Buckwalter](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/tyler_buckwalter/32/45776_2.png) [@Tyler\_Buckwalter](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Tyler_Buckwalter)\
**Post date:** [May 7, 2019, 9:09pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/modifying-elasticsearch-basic-license/180065/1 "2019-05-07T21:09:02Z")

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I am setting up a forensics virtual training environment where the system date/time is in May 2016. A lot of the basic features are turned off and the Beats agents are not able to communicate. the Elasticsearch basic license status is "invalid" and has an issue\_date or 2018-06. Would this date abnormality cause it to malfunction? If so, is there anything I can do to modify the license?

{  
"license" : {  
"status" : "invalid",  
"uid" : "6447d0c7-8b7a-4cf7-ad0a-b56fd9164ba2",  
"type" : "basic",  
"issue\_date" : "2018-06-17T19:03:25.452Z",  
"issue\_date\_in\_millis" : 1529262205452,  
"max\_nodes" : 1000,  
"issued\_to" : "elasticsearch",  
"issuer" : "elasticsearch",  
"start\_date\_in\_millis" : -1  
}  
}

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**Author:** ![warkolm](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/warkolm/32/39224_2.png) [@warkolm](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/warkolm)\
**Post date:** [May 7, 2019, 11:25pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/modifying-elasticsearch-basic-license/180065/2 "2019-05-07T23:25:40Z")

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Ahh this is an interesting problem. I don't think a license will work in this instance due to the dates.

But what's the actual problem you are seeing? Can you share logs?

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**Author:** ![TimV](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/timv/32/13162_2.png) [@TimV](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/TimV)\
**Post date:** [May 8, 2019, 2:08am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/modifying-elasticsearch-basic-license/180065/3 "2019-05-08T02:08:43Z")

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Wht version of ES are you using?

If it's 6.3 or higher (and it looks like it is), then you can _probably_ solve it by causing the basic license to be generated while the date has been set back to 2016.

If can you rebuild the whole cluster from scratch, then make sure you set the date to 2016 before you start up your first node.

Otherwise, _maybe_ you can fix it by [starting a trial license](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/6.7/start-trial.html) and then [reverting back to a basic license](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/6.7/start-basic.html).

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**Author:** ![Tyler\_Buckwalter](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/tyler_buckwalter/32/45776_2.png) [@Tyler\_Buckwalter](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Tyler_Buckwalter)\
**Post date:** [May 8, 2019, 2:08pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/modifying-elasticsearch-basic-license/180065/4 "2019-05-08T14:08:11Z")

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I first noticed the problem when I was trying to get two Elasticsearch nodes to recognize each other. While troubleshooting, I was trying to determine if it were a network/firewall issue or a configuration issue. I spun up another VM for Kibana which picked up the primary Elasticsearch node immediately. When I went in to see the cluster information via the Kibana interface it says "permission error: You do not have permission to view or add remote clusters."

Followed by a popup in the bottom right-hand corner saying:  
_Error refreshing remote clusters_  
_403: Forbidden. You cannot use Remote Clusters because your basic license has expired_

I attempted to refresh the license via: curl -uelastic -XPOST '[http://10.21.5.14:9200/\_xpack/license/start\_basic](http://10.21.5.14:9200/_xpack/license/start_basic)'. But still have an invalid license as shown in the original problem.

I guess I am unsure what logs to show in this case - I'm somewhat of a novice. I'd be happy to provide whatever you'd like to see.

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**Author:** ![Tyler\_Buckwalter](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/tyler_buckwalter/32/45776_2.png) [@Tyler\_Buckwalter](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Tyler_Buckwalter)\
**Post date:** [May 8, 2019, 2:12pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/modifying-elasticsearch-basic-license/180065/5 "2019-05-08T14:12:13Z")

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ES Version is 7.0.0. I believe I have tried to regenerate the basic license to no avail. I ran "curl -uelastic -XPOST '[http://10.21.5.14:9200/\_xpack/license/start\_basic](http://10.21.5.14:9200/_xpack/license/start_basic)'" with seemingly no effect on the license.

I've tried to rebuild several times, and the license date seems to remain the same. I assumed that it was the earliest date that this version could be valid for. Is there any way I can delete the existing license?

I will try to start a trial license and then revert.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Tyler\_Buckwalter](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/tyler_buckwalter/32/45776_2.png) [@Tyler\_Buckwalter](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Tyler_Buckwalter)\
**Post date:** [May 8, 2019, 2:25pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/modifying-elasticsearch-basic-license/180065/6 "2019-05-08T14:25:29Z")

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> [@Tyler\_Buckwalter](#):
>
> curl -uelastic -XPOST '[http://10.21.5.14:9200/\_xpack/license/start\_basic](http://10.21.5.14:9200/_xpack/license/start_basic)'

Thanks TimV. Your idea worked. I was able to delete the license and regenerate it with the current system time. Working fine now.

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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:** [June 5, 2019, 2:25pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/modifying-elasticsearch-basic-license/180065/7 "2019-06-05T14:25:30Z")

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