# ResourceAlreadyExists Exception After Deleting Index **URL:** \ **Category:** Elasticsearch\ **Created:** [May 11, 2020, 8:23am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/resourcealreadyexists-exception-after-deleting-index/231953 "2020-05-11T08:23:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ddavid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/cab0a1/32.png) [@ddavid](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/ddavid)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2020, 8:23am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/resourcealreadyexists-exception-after-deleting-index/231953/1 "2020-05-11T08:23:58Z")
**Background** I am using python's behave library to write feature tests for my code in linux environment. Some features have data that is stored in elastic search (no clusters, 5 shards, 1 replica, version 6.4.0). For this reason, before an elastic related feature, we find a suitable open port and create a new ES instance. Before a scenario ES index is created and filled up with data. After scenario, we delete the ES index to get into a clean state. Test runs are triggered on host using make command -j to run tests parallel. There can be 5 parallel runs at most. **Problem** The other day my feature test runs failed and from the logs the following came to me as a surprise: ` **00:42:24** [2020-05-08T00:42:24,541][INFO][o.e.c.m.MetaDataDeleteIndexService] [sw2jEeH] [sessions/d3HbZo0tSRGX-7_WHPRCUw] deleting index` ... ` **00:42:37** es.indices.create(index=index, body=schema["body"]) **00:42:37** File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/elasticsearch/client/utils.py", line 73, in _wrapped **00:42:37** return func(*args, params=params, **kwargs)**00:42:37 **File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/elasticsearch/client/indices.py", line 107, in create** 00:42:37**params=params, body=body)**00:42:37 **File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/elasticsearch/transport.py", line 312, in perform_request** 00:42:37**status, headers, data = connection.perform_request(method, url, params, body, ignore=ignore, timeout=timeout)**00:42:37 **File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/elasticsearch/connection/http_urllib3.py", line 128, in perform_request** 00:42:37**self._raise_error(response.status, raw_data)**00:42:37 **File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/elasticsearch/connection/base.py", line 125, in _raise_error** 00:42:37**raise HTTP_EXCEPTIONS.get(status_code, TransportError)(status_code, error_message, additional_info)**00:42:37**elasticsearch.exceptions.RequestError: TransportError(400, 'resource_already_exists_exception', 'index [sessions/d3HbZo0tSRGX-7_WHPRCUw] already exists')**00:42:37 **** 00:42:37** exception: TransportError(400, 'resource_already_exists_exception', 'index [sessions/d3HbZo0tSRGX-7_WHPRCUw] already exists')` Notice that sessions index with **d3HbZo0tSRGX-7\_WHPRCUw** uuid is stated by MetaDataDeleteIndexService as it is going to be deleted. Several seconds later, when creating a new index for an ES scenario fails like the index were existing. My question is whether there can be a significant gap between 'deleting index' and the index is actually deleted? That would explain why ResourceAlreadyExists was thrown. Thanking you in advance for any help and idea. ---
**Author:** ![DavidTurner](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/davidturner/32/22453_2.png) [@DavidTurner](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/DavidTurner)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2020, 8:52am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/resourcealreadyexists-exception-after-deleting-index/231953/2 "2020-05-11T08:52:30Z")
Are you sure the deletion of the index really completed before you tried to create it again? You must wait for a successful response from the delete-index request before you can know that the index was really deleted. ---
**Author:** ![ddavid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/cab0a1/32.png) [@ddavid](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/ddavid)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2020, 11:12am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/resourcealreadyexists-exception-after-deleting-index/231953/3 "2020-05-11T11:12:48Z")
Thank you for your quick reply! I do not check the success of the deletion (since I am invoking es.indices.delete() with _ignore=[400,404]_), but it is definitely a good approach that enhances code safety. I'll add this check and see if the problem arises again. ---
**Author:** ![DavidTurner](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/davidturner/32/22453_2.png) [@DavidTurner](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/DavidTurner)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2020, 11:31am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/resourcealreadyexists-exception-after-deleting-index/231953/4 "2020-05-11T11:31:06Z")
Seems unwise to me to ignore 400 responses to the delete-index request. A 404 is legitimate, it means the index wasn't there, but a 400 means the request is malformed or otherwise failed. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2020, 11:35am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/resourcealreadyexists-exception-after-deleting-index/231953/5 "2020-06-08T11:35:42Z")
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