# Pre v5 index compatibility with Elasticsearch v8

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/pre-v5-index-compatibility-with-elasticsearch-v8/350680>\
**Category:** Elasticsearch\
**Tags:** reindex\
**Created:** [January 9, 2024, 7:09pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/pre-v5-index-compatibility-with-elasticsearch-v8/350680 "2024-01-09T19:09:41Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![buitcj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a587f6/32.png) [@buitcj](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/buitcj)\
**Post date:** [January 9, 2024, 7:09pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/pre-v5-index-compatibility-with-elasticsearch-v8/350680/1 "2024-01-09T19:09:41Z")

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Per [Upgrade Elasticsearch | Elasticsearch Guide [8.11] | Elastic](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/setup-upgrade.html#upgrade-index-compatibility), "indices created in 6.x or earlier...use the archive functionality" which makes it sound like any version \<= 6 should work.

Maybe slightly contradictory, but [Reading indices from older Elasticsearch versions | Elasticsearch Guide [8.11] | Elastic](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/archive-indices.html) seems to say that the archive functionality only works with versions 5 or 6.

Q1: Which of the above two is correct?

Q2: If the archive functionality only works with v5 and v6, how do we bring indices _created_ in v1-4 into Elasticsearch 8?

Thanks in advance

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**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:** [January 9, 2024, 7:26pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/pre-v5-index-compatibility-with-elasticsearch-v8/350680/2 "2024-01-09T19:26:18Z")

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> [@buitcj](#):
>
> Q1: Which of the above two is correct?

I believe the second one is correct as that is the actual description of the feature.

> [@buitcj](#):
>
> Q2: If the archive functionality only works with v5 and v6, how do we bring indices _created_ in v1-4 into Elasticsearch 8?

Elasticsearch went directly from version 2.x to 5.x to align version numbers across the stack, so there is no version 3 or 4. From earlier versions you will need to reindex the data.

It is also worth noting that the ability to read older indices in Elasticsearch [is a commercial feature that does require an Enterprise license](https://www.elastic.co/subscriptions).

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**Author:** ![buitcj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a587f6/32.png) [@buitcj](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/buitcj)\
**Post date:** [January 9, 2024, 8:30pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/pre-v5-index-compatibility-with-elasticsearch-v8/350680/3 "2024-01-09T20:30:58Z")

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Thanks, Christian,

Follow up question,

> It is also worth noting that the ability to read older indices in Elasticsearch [is a commercial feature that does require an Enterprise license](https://www.elastic.co/subscriptions).

in your link, which row/item were you referring to? I didn't see anything that specifically called out the older indices

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![buitcj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a587f6/32.png) [@buitcj](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/buitcj)\
**Post date:** [January 9, 2024, 10:36pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/pre-v5-index-compatibility-with-elasticsearch-v8/350680/4 "2024-01-09T22:36:31Z")

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> From earlier versions [v1, v2,] you will need to reindex the data.

You said that reading older indices is only an Enterprise feature.

Does that also mean REINDEXING will also not work on v1 and v2 older indices? reindexing would require reading...

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**Author:** ![leandrojmp](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/leandrojmp/32/107231_2.png) [@leandrojmp](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/leandrojmp)\
**Post date:** [January 9, 2024, 11:00pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/pre-v5-index-compatibility-with-elasticsearch-v8/350680/5 "2024-01-09T23:00:51Z")

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> [@buitcj](#):
>
> Does that also mean REINDEXING will also not work on v1 and v2 older indices? reindexing would require reading...

In this case reindexing needs to be done acessing a running cluster with the data on the specified version, v1 or v2.

How you will reindex is entirely up to you, but you will need a cluster on v1/v2 with the data and a cluster on a newer version, basically you will read the data from the old cluster and write it in the new cluster.

The paid feature that can read data from v5 and v6 cluster will read the data from snapshots created on these versions, this would allow you to restore a v5/v6 snapshot on a v8 cluster for example.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![buitcj](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a587f6/32.png) [@buitcj](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/buitcj)\
**Post date:** [January 9, 2024, 11:14pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/pre-v5-index-compatibility-with-elasticsearch-v8/350680/6 "2024-01-09T23:14:55Z")

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ah, so it sounds like you're saying the reindexing of a v1 or v2 index is done on a live cluster and can't be done from reading a snapshot. Thanks!

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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:** [February 6, 2024, 11:15pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/pre-v5-index-compatibility-with-elasticsearch-v8/350680/7 "2024-02-06T23:15:03Z")

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