# Reference Set

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/reference-set/318375>\
**Category:** Elasticsearch\
**Tags:** elastic-stack-alerting\
**Created:** [November 8, 2022, 1:43am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/reference-set/318375 "2022-11-08T01:43:20Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![gunlomboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c0e974/32.png) [@gunlomboy](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/gunlomboy)\
**Post date:** [November 8, 2022, 1:43am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/reference-set/318375/1 "2022-11-08T01:43:20Z")

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Hi,

We are using elasticsearch for alerting. Hosts are created and destroyed all the time for development purposes, but we have a core of devices which are tightly controlled. This list of devices is 100+ and are spread across various environments. We would like to alert when a specific event happens on one of these devices.

Does elasticsearch have anything similar to reference sets?

We need to be able to maintain a list of devices (the reference set), then use that in our alerting rule. Eg, if X happens on a device and the hostname is in this reference set

Many thanks.

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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:** [November 9, 2022, 1:17am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/reference-set/318375/2 "2022-11-09T01:17:43Z")

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The closest I can think of is [Watcher chain input | Elasticsearch Guide [8.5] | Elastic](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/8.5/input-chain.html), where you could load the data from the reference index and then iterate over that for your alerts.

Maybe someone else can suggest something else though 🙂

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![gunlomboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c0e974/32.png) [@gunlomboy](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/gunlomboy)\
**Post date:** [November 9, 2022, 1:31am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/reference-set/318375/3 "2022-11-09T01:31:42Z")

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Thanks @warkolm

Not exactly what I'm looking for, but I could probably do something with it. 🙂

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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:** [November 9, 2022, 2:57am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/reference-set/318375/4 "2022-11-09T02:57:11Z")

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Yeah I get your point 🙂

Another option might be to do this;

1. store your critical hosts in a new index
2. enrich your event using an [ingest pipeline](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/put-enrich-policy-api.html)
3. tag these critical hosts with something
4. then use that for alerting

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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:** [December 7, 2022, 2:57am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/reference-set/318375/5 "2022-12-07T02:57:48Z")

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