# Unable to connect to Elasticsearch. Error: \[mapper\_parsing\_exception\] No handler for type \[flattened\] declared on field \[state\]

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/unable-to-connect-to-elasticsearch-error-mapper-parsing-exception-no-handler-for-type-flattened-declared-on-field-state/215378>\
**Category:** Kibana\
**Created:** [January 16, 2020, 7:28pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/unable-to-connect-to-elasticsearch-error-mapper-parsing-exception-no-handler-for-type-flattened-declared-on-field-state/215378 "2020-01-16T19:28:24Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 15\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![o1o1o11o1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/74df32/32.png) [@o1o1o11o1](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/o1o1o11o1)\
**Post date:** [January 16, 2020, 7:28pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/unable-to-connect-to-elasticsearch-error-mapper-parsing-exception-no-handler-for-type-flattened-declared-on-field-state/215378/1 "2020-01-16T19:28:25Z")

</div>

After upgrading Elasticsearch and Kibana from 7.1 to 7.5.1 Kibana is unable to start with the following error:

Unable to connect to Elasticsearch. Error: [mapper\_parsing\_exception] No handler for type [flattened] declared on field [state]

If I use OSS Kibana, then it starts.  
Any ideas on what is going on?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![wylie](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/wylie/32/81794_2.png) [@wylie](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/wylie)\
**Post date:** [January 16, 2020, 7:55pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/unable-to-connect-to-elasticsearch-error-mapper-parsing-exception-no-handler-for-type-flattened-declared-on-field-state/215378/2 "2020-01-16T19:55:03Z")

</div>

Yes, what is happening is that you are using OSS Elasticsearch with a non-OSS Kibana.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![o1o1o11o1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/74df32/32.png) [@o1o1o11o1](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/o1o1o11o1)\
**Post date:** [January 16, 2020, 8:30pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/unable-to-connect-to-elasticsearch-error-mapper-parsing-exception-no-handler-for-type-flattened-declared-on-field-state/215378/3 "2020-01-16T20:30:44Z")

</div>

Not true, I am using the Basic License Elasticsearch (upgrading from 7.1) and trying to use the basic license Kibana. I am upgrading them from the non oss debian repo.

```
ii elasticsearch 7.5.1 amd64 Distributed RESTful search engine built for the cloud
```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![o1o1o11o1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/74df32/32.png) [@o1o1o11o1](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/o1o1o11o1)\
**Post date:** [January 16, 2020, 8:35pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/unable-to-connect-to-elasticsearch-error-mapper-parsing-exception-no-handler-for-type-flattened-declared-on-field-state/215378/4 "2020-01-16T20:35:49Z")

</div>

```
curl -s -X GET --user XXX "localhost:9200/_license?pretty"
{
  "license" : {
"status" : "active",
"uid" : "6213bfbe-1e89-4b0b-8967-cecb1889a075",
"type" : "basic",
"issue_date" : "2019-08-19T19:38:41.344Z",
"issue_date_in_millis" : 1566243521344,
"max_nodes" : 1000,
"issued_to" : "XXX",
"issuer" : "elasticsearch",
"start_date_in_millis" : -1
  }
}
```

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![o1o1o11o1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/74df32/32.png) [@o1o1o11o1](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/o1o1o11o1)\
**Post date:** [January 16, 2020, 8:46pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/unable-to-connect-to-elasticsearch-error-mapper-parsing-exception-no-handler-for-type-flattened-declared-on-field-state/215378/5 "2020-01-16T20:46:28Z")

</div>

This seems to work with Kibana 7.5.0, but with some errors because Elasticsearch is 7.5.1

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![wylie](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/wylie/32/81794_2.png) [@wylie](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/wylie)\
**Post date:** [January 16, 2020, 10:08pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/unable-to-connect-to-elasticsearch-error-mapper-parsing-exception-no-handler-for-type-flattened-declared-on-field-state/215378/6 "2020-01-16T22:08:17Z")

</div>

It seems like there is something wrong with your configuration. I can't quite tell what it is, but what I know for sure is that the `flattened` mapping is available with the basic license in x-pack, and Kibana Lens (also basic license) uses that `flattened` type in its mapping. There was some discussion of your exact issue here, but the resolution is not exactly what you are looking for:  
[https://github.com/elastic/kibana/issues/52324](https://github.com/elastic/kibana/issues/52324)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Shawn\_McKee](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/shawn_mckee/32/62230_2.png) [@Shawn\_McKee](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Shawn_McKee)\
**Post date:** [February 6, 2020, 9:44pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/unable-to-connect-to-elasticsearch-error-mapper-parsing-exception-no-handler-for-type-flattened-declared-on-field-state/215378/7 "2020-02-06T21:44:15Z")

</div>

So I am having the same problem. Started from Kibana and Elasticsearch 7.2.0 and upgraded (via RPM) to 7.5.2. I have a basic license and get the same error:

```
> {"type":"log","@timestamp":"2020-02-06T21:13:58Z","tags":["info","migrations"],"pid":232731,"message":"Creating index .kibana_11."}
> {"type":"log","@timestamp":"2020-02-06T21:13:58Z","tags":["warning","migrations"],"pid":232731,"message":"Unable to connect to Elasticsearch. Error: [mapper_parsing_exception] No handler for type [flattened] declared on field [state]"}
> {"type":"log","@timestamp":"2020-02-06T21:13:58Z","tags":["fatal","root"],"pid":232731,"message":"{ Error: [mapper_parsing_exception] No handler for type [flattened] declared on field [state]\n at respond (/usr/share/kibana/node_modules/elasticsearch/src/lib/transport.js:349:15)\n at checkRespForFailure (/usr/share/kibana/node_modules/elasticsearch/src/lib/transport.js:306:7)\n at HttpConnector.<anonymous> (/usr/share/kibana/node_modules/elasticsearch/src/lib/connectors/http.js:173:7)\n at IncomingMessage.wrapper (/usr/share/kibana/node_modules/elasticsearch/node_modules/lodash/lodash.js:4929:19)\n at IncomingMessage.emit (events.js:194:15)\n at endReadableNT (_stream_readable.js:1103:12)\n at process._tickCallback (internal/process/next_tick.js:63:19)\n status: 400,\n displayName: 'BadRequest',\n message:\n '[mapper_parsing_exception] No handler for type [flattened] declared on field [state]',\n path: '/.kibana_11',\n query: {},\n body:\n { error:\n { root_cause: [Array],\n type: 'mapper_parsing_exception',\n reason:\n 'Failed to parse mapping [_doc]: No handler for type [flattened] declared on field [state]',\n caused_by: [Object] },\n status: 400 },\n statusCode: 400,\n response:\n '{\"error\":{\"root_cause\":[{\"type\":\"mapper_parsing_exception\",\"reason\":\"No handler for type [flattened] declared on field [state]\"}],\"type\":\"mapper_parsing_exception\",\"reason\":\"Failed to parse mapping [_doc]: No handler for type [flattened] declared on field [state]\",\"caused_by\":{\"type\":\"mapper_parsing_exception\",\"reason\":\"No handler for type [flattened] declared on field [state]\"}},\"status\":400}',\n toString: [Function],\n toJSON: [Function] }"}

```

I am running the non-OSS versions:

elasticsearch-7.5.2-1.x86\_64  
kibana-7.5.2-1.x86\_64

Here is the Elasticsearch info:

```
 /usr/bin/curl -H "Content-Type: application/json" -XGET "http://localhost:9200/"
{
  "name" : "atgrid",
  "cluster_name" : "elasticsearch",
  "cluster_uuid" : "LN5csqKxTtK0S5zydp-nSQ",
  "version" : {
    "number" : "7.5.2",
    "build_flavor" : "default",
    "build_type" : "rpm",
    "build_hash" : "8bec50e1e0ad29dad5653712cf3bb580cd1afcdf",
    "build_date" : "2020-01-15T12:11:52.313576Z",
    "build_snapshot" : false,
    "lucene_version" : "8.3.0",
    "minimum_wire_compatibility_version" : "6.8.0",
    "minimum_index_compatibility_version" : "6.0.0-beta1"
  },
  "tagline" : "You Know, for Search"
}

```

Here is the license info:

```
/usr/bin/curl -H "Content-Type: application/json" -XGET "http://localhost:9200/_license?pretty"
{
  "license" : {
    "status" : "active",
    "uid" : "ef0a98f5-9f5c-4d2f-aa94-7cb46ab89a28",
    "type" : "basic",
    "issue_date" : "2019-04-20T18:26:41.702Z",
    "issue_date_in_millis" : 1555784801702,
    "max_nodes" : 1000,
    "issued_to" : "elasticsearch",
    "issuer" : "elasticsearch",
    "start_date_in_millis" : -1
  }
}

```

Is there some relevant x-pack configuration that is needed to activate "flattened" on the elasticsearch instance? Shouldn't it just be there?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![wylie](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/wylie/32/81794_2.png) [@wylie](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/wylie)\
**Post date:** [February 6, 2020, 10:06pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/unable-to-connect-to-elasticsearch-error-mapper-parsing-exception-no-handler-for-type-flattened-declared-on-field-state/215378/8 "2020-02-06T22:06:25Z")

</div>

I've looked into the source code behind `flattened` field types in Elasticsearch, and there are a few things that are required:

- Active X-pack license, which you appear to have
- `xpack.flattened.enabled: true`, which is default

Can you verify that you have `flattened` enabled by making an info request to `GET /_xpack`?

[https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/info-api.html](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/info-api.html)

We're also looking into the possibility of an issue when upgrading, since the `flattened` type was introduced in 7.3

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Julie\_Tibshirani](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/julie_tibshirani/32/55628_2.png) [@Julie\_Tibshirani](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Julie_Tibshirani)\
**Post date:** [February 6, 2020, 11:22pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/unable-to-connect-to-elasticsearch-error-mapper-parsing-exception-no-handler-for-type-flattened-declared-on-field-state/215378/9 "2020-02-06T23:22:29Z")

</div>

Thank you all for raising this issue, it's important that we get to the bottom it.

Adding to Wylie's questions, I wanted to double-check in what order you're upgrading Kibana and Elasticsearch? The proper order is always first to upgrade Elasticsearch, then Kibana. For example Kibana version 7.5 cannot talk to Elasticsearch 7.2.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Shawn\_McKee](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/shawn_mckee/32/62230_2.png) [@Shawn\_McKee](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Shawn_McKee)\
**Post date:** [February 7, 2020, 2:20pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/unable-to-connect-to-elasticsearch-error-mapper-parsing-exception-no-handler-for-type-flattened-declared-on-field-state/215378/10 "2020-02-07T14:20:43Z")

</div>

Thanks for the quick reply. Here is the \_xpack info:

```
 /usr/bin/curl -H "Content-Type: application/json" -XGET "http://localhost:9200/_xpack?pretty"
{
  "build" : {
    "hash" : "8bec50e1e0ad29dad5653712cf3bb580cd1afcdf",
    "date" : "2020-01-15T12:11:52.334639Z"
  },
  "license" : {
    "uid" : "ef0a98f5-9f5c-4d2f-aa94-7cb46ab89a28",
    "type" : "basic",
    "mode" : "basic",
    "status" : "active"
  },
  "features" : {
    "analytics" : {
      "available" : true,
      "enabled" : true
    },
    "ccr" : {
      "available" : false,
      "enabled" : true
    },
    "enrich" : {
      "available" : true,
      "enabled" : true
    },
    "flattened" : {
      "available" : true,
      "enabled" : true
    },
    "frozen_indices" : {
      "available" : true,
      "enabled" : true
    },
    "graph" : {
      "available" : false,
      "enabled" : true
    },
    "ilm" : {
      "available" : true,
      "enabled" : true
    },
    "logstash" : {
      "available" : false,
      "enabled" : true
    },
    "ml" : {
      "available" : false,
      "enabled" : false,
      "native_code_info" : {
        "version" : "N/A",
        "build_hash" : "N/A"
      }
    },
    "monitoring" : {
      "available" : true,
      "enabled" : true
    },
    "rollup" : {
      "available" : true,
      "enabled" : true
    },
    "security" : {
      "available" : true,
      "enabled" : false
    },
    "slm" : {
      "available" : true,
      "enabled" : true
    },
    "spatial" : {
      "available" : true,
      "enabled" : true
    },
    "sql" : {
      "available" : true,
      "enabled" : true
    },
    "transform" : {
      "available" : true,
      "enabled" : true
    },
    "vectors" : {
      "available" : true,
      "enabled" : true
    },
    "voting_only" : {
      "available" : true,
      "enabled" : true
    },
    "watcher" : {
      "available" : false,
      "enabled" : true
    }
  },
  "tagline" : "You know, for X"
}

```

I ran a 'yum update' which updated: elasticsearch, logstash, filebeat, metricbeat and kibana. This was supposed to be a rolling upgrade, so I ran it on the main node (of 3 total nodes). The other two nodes run only Elasticsearch and are still on 7.2.0. The kibana instance should only be talking to the local elasticsearch instance. In kibana.yml I have:

```
server.host: "localhost"
elasticsearch.hosts: ["http://localhost:9200"]

```

Is it a problem that the other two elasticsearch instances are still 7.2.0 ? Thanks,

Shawn

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![wylie](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/wylie/32/81794_2.png) [@wylie](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/wylie)\
**Post date:** [February 7, 2020, 3:49pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/unable-to-connect-to-elasticsearch-error-mapper-parsing-exception-no-handler-for-type-flattened-declared-on-field-state/215378/11 "2020-02-07T15:49:23Z")

</div>

> Is it a problem that the other two elasticsearch instances are still 7.2.0 ?

That sounds like a likely source of the problem. The `flattened` type was introduced in 7.3

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Shawn\_McKee](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/shawn_mckee/32/62230_2.png) [@Shawn\_McKee](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Shawn_McKee)\
**Post date:** [February 7, 2020, 4:05pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/unable-to-connect-to-elasticsearch-error-mapper-parsing-exception-no-handler-for-type-flattened-declared-on-field-state/215378/12 "2020-02-07T16:05:02Z")

</div>

OK, I will update the other two instances to 7.5.2 and we can see if this fixes it. I will post the result soon. Thanks,

Shawn

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![wylie](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/wylie/32/81794_2.png) [@wylie](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/wylie)\
**Post date:** [February 7, 2020, 4:17pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/unable-to-connect-to-elasticsearch-error-mapper-parsing-exception-no-handler-for-type-flattened-declared-on-field-state/215378/13 "2020-02-07T16:17:22Z")

</div>

You could potentially check the shards for `.kibana` indexes (there's multiple) to see if any are on the 7.2.0 nodes

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Shawn\_McKee](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/shawn_mckee/32/62230_2.png) [@Shawn\_McKee](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Shawn_McKee)\
**Post date:** [February 7, 2020, 4:18pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/unable-to-connect-to-elasticsearch-error-mapper-parsing-exception-no-handler-for-type-flattened-declared-on-field-state/215378/14 "2020-02-07T16:18:53Z")

</div>

Yes, after the upgrade Kibana is not hitting the issue. Sorry for the noise. Some shards for the .kibana indices were on the 7.2.0 systems and that was causing the problem. -Shawn

---

<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:** [March 6, 2020, 4:18pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/unable-to-connect-to-elasticsearch-error-mapper-parsing-exception-no-handler-for-type-flattened-declared-on-field-state/215378/15 "2020-03-06T16:18:55Z")

</div>

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