# Setting \[index.lifecycle.rollover\_alias\] for index \[y\] is empty or not defined

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/setting-index-lifecycle-rollover-alias-for-index-y-is-empty-or-not-defined/289053>\
**Category:** Elasticsearch\
**Tags:** ilm-index-lifecycle-management, datastreams\
**Created:** [November 12, 2021, 9:04am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/setting-index-lifecycle-rollover-alias-for-index-y-is-empty-or-not-defined/289053 "2021-11-12T09:04:55Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![wajika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/977dab/32.png) [@wajika](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/wajika)\
**Post date:** [November 12, 2021, 9:04am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/setting-index-lifecycle-rollover-alias-for-index-y-is-empty-or-not-defined/289053/1 "2021-11-12T09:04:55Z")

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I have read the documentation, and the solution to this error is that I need to set an alias for the index. But this index is at the system level, that is, I did not build it. Why do I need to manually set aliases?

[Setting [index.lifecycle.rollover\_alias] for index [y] is empty or not defined](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/index-lifecycle-error-handling.html#_setting_index_lifecycle_rollover_alias_for_index_y_is_empty_or_not_defined)

```auto
> [2021-11-12T07:12:28,714][INFO][o.e.x.i.IndexLifecycleRunner] [es-dev01] policy [ilm-history-ilm-policy] for index [.ds-ilm-history-5-2021.10.26-000001] on an error step due to a transient error, moving back to the failed step [check-rollover-ready] for execution. retry attempt [1211]
> [2021-11-12T07:22:28,713][ERROR][o.e.x.i.IndexLifecycleRunner] [es-dev01] policy [ilm-history-ilm-policy] for index [.ds-ilm-history-5-2021.10.26-000001] failed on step [{"phase":"hot","action":"rollover","name":"check-rollover-ready"}]. Moving to ERROR step
> java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: setting [index.lifecycle.rollover_alias] for index [.ds-ilm-history-5-2021.10.26-000001] is empty or not defined
> at org.elasticsearch.xpack.core.ilm.WaitForRolloverReadyStep.evaluateCondition(WaitForRolloverReadyStep.java:77) [x-pack-core-7.13.4.jar:7.13.4]
> at org.elasticsearch.xpack.ilm.IndexLifecycleRunner.runPeriodicStep(IndexLifecycleRunner.java:176) [x-pack-ilm-7.13.4.jar:7.13.4]
> at org.elasticsearch.xpack.ilm.IndexLifecycleService.triggerPolicies(IndexLifecycleService.java:334) [x-pack-ilm-7.13.4.jar:7.13.4]
> at org.elasticsearch.xpack.ilm.IndexLifecycleService.triggered(IndexLifecycleService.java:272) [x-pack-ilm-7.13.4.jar:7.13.4]
> at org.elasticsearch.xpack.core.scheduler.SchedulerEngine.notifyListeners(SchedulerEngine.java:184) [x-pack-core-7.13.4.jar:7.13.4]
> at org.elasticsearch.xpack.core.scheduler.SchedulerEngine$ActiveSchedule.run(SchedulerEngine.java:217) [x-pack-core-7.13.4.jar:7.13.4]
> at java.util.concurrent.Executors$RunnableAdapter.call(Executors.java:515) [?:?]
> at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:264) [?:?]
> at java.util.concurrent.ScheduledThreadPoolExecutor$ScheduledFutureTask.run(ScheduledThreadPoolExecutor.java:304) [?:?]
> at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1130) [?:?]
> at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:630) [?:?]
> at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:831) [?:?]
> [2021-11-12T07:32:28,714][INFO][o.e.x.i.IndexLifecycleRunner] [es-dev01] policy [ilm-history-ilm-policy] for index [.ds-ilm-history-5-2021.10.26-000001] on an error step due to a transient error, moving back to the failed step [check-rollover-ready] for execution. retry attempt [1212]
> [2021-11-12T07:42:28,714][ERROR][o.e.x.i.IndexLifecycleRunner] [es-dev01] policy [ilm-history-ilm-policy] for index [.ds-ilm-history-5-2021.10.26-000001] failed on step [{"phase":"hot","action":"rollover","name":"check-rollover-ready"}]. Moving to ERROR step
> java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: setting [index.lifecycle.rollover_alias] for index [.ds-ilm-history-5-2021.10.26-000001] is empty or not defined
> at org.elasticsearch.xpack.core.ilm.WaitForRolloverReadyStep.evaluateCondition(WaitForRolloverReadyStep.java:77) [x-pack-core-7.13.4.jar:7.13.4]
> at org.elasticsearch.xpack.ilm.IndexLifecycleRunner.runPeriodicStep(IndexLifecycleRunner.java:176) [x-pack-ilm-7.13.4.jar:7.13.4]
> at org.elasticsearch.xpack.ilm.IndexLifecycleService.triggerPolicies(IndexLifecycleService.java:334) [x-pack-ilm-7.13.4.jar:7.13.4]
> at org.elasticsearch.xpack.ilm.IndexLifecycleService.triggered(IndexLifecycleService.java:272) [x-pack-ilm-7.13.4.jar:7.13.4]
> at org.elasticsearch.xpack.core.scheduler.SchedulerEngine.notifyListeners(SchedulerEngine.java:184) [x-pack-core-7.13.4.jar:7.13.4]
> at org.elasticsearch.xpack.core.scheduler.SchedulerEngine$ActiveSchedule.run(SchedulerEngine.java:217) [x-pack-core-7.13.4.jar:7.13.4]
> at java.util.concurrent.Executors$RunnableAdapter.call(Executors.java:515) [?:?]
> at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:264) [?:?]
> at java.util.concurrent.ScheduledThreadPoolExecutor$ScheduledFutureTask.run(ScheduledThreadPoolExecutor.java:304) [?:?]
> at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1130) [?:?]
> at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:630) [?:?]
> at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:831) [?:?]
> [2021-11-12T07:52:28,713][INFO][o.e.x.i.IndexLifecycleRunner] [es-dev01] policy [ilm-history-ilm-policy] for index [.ds-ilm-history-5-2021.10.26-000001] on an error step due to a transient error, moving back to the failed step [check-rollover-ready] for execution. retry attempt [1213]
> [2021-11-12T08:02:28,713][ERROR][o.e.x.i.IndexLifecycleRunner] [es-dev01] policy [ilm-history-ilm-policy] for index [.ds-ilm-history-5-2021.10.26-000001] failed on step [{"phase":"hot","action":"rollover","name":"check-rollover-ready"}]. Moving to ERROR step
> java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: setting [index.lifecycle.rollover_alias] for index [.ds-ilm-history-5-2021.10.26-000001] is empty or not defined
> at org.elasticsearch.xpack.core.ilm.WaitForRolloverReadyStep.evaluateCondition(WaitForRolloverReadyStep.java:77) [x-pack-core-7.13.4.jar:7.13.4]
> at org.elasticsearch.xpack.ilm.IndexLifecycleRunner.runPeriodicStep(IndexLifecycleRunner.java:176) [x-pack-ilm-7.13.4.jar:7.13.4]
> at org.elasticsearch.xpack.ilm.IndexLifecycleService.triggerPolicies(IndexLifecycleService.java:334) [x-pack-ilm-7.13.4.jar:7.13.4]
> at org.elasticsearch.xpack.ilm.IndexLifecycleService.triggered(IndexLifecycleService.java:272) [x-pack-ilm-7.13.4.jar:7.13.4]
> at org.elasticsearch.xpack.core.scheduler.SchedulerEngine.notifyListeners(SchedulerEngine.java:184) [x-pack-core-7.13.4.jar:7.13.4]
> at org.elasticsearch.xpack.core.scheduler.SchedulerEngine$ActiveSchedule.run(SchedulerEngine.java:217) [x-pack-core-7.13.4.jar:7.13.4]
> at java.util.concurrent.Executors$RunnableAdapter.call(Executors.java:515) [?:?]
> at java.util.concurrent.FutureTask.run(FutureTask.java:264) [?:?]
> at java.util.concurrent.ScheduledThreadPoolExecutor$ScheduledFutureTask.run(ScheduledThreadPoolExecutor.java:304) [?:?]
> at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor.runWorker(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:1130) [?:?]
> at java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor$Worker.run(ThreadPoolExecutor.java:630) [?:?]
> at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:831) [?:?]

```

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![wajika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/977dab/32.png) [@wajika](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/wajika)\
**Post date:** [November 16, 2021, 7:13am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/setting-index-lifecycle-rollover-alias-for-index-y-is-empty-or-not-defined/289053/2 "2021-11-16T07:13:12Z")

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I turned the rollover off and it worked. It should be a problem with the rollover I created.

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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:** [December 14, 2021, 7:14am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/setting-index-lifecycle-rollover-alias-for-index-y-is-empty-or-not-defined/289053/3 "2021-12-14T07:14:01Z")

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