# Using elasticsearch as my primary database
**URL:** https://discuss.elastic.co/t/using-elasticsearch-as-my-primary-database/9395
**Category:** Elasticsearch
**Created:** [October 17, 2012, 3:19pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/using-elasticsearch-as-my-primary-database/9395 "2012-10-17T15:19:36Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Amy](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Amy)
#### Post date: [October 17, 2012, 3:19pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/using-elasticsearch-as-my-primary-database/9395/1 "2012-10-17T15:19:36Z")
Hi,
I'm considering using elasticsearch as my primary db, the alternative being
a couchbase-elasticsearch combo.
Group discussions[https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups=#!searchin/elasticsearch/primary$20database/elasticsearch/qAnXu5w3pn4/Te1vli7dfccJ](https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups=#!searchin/elasticsearch/primary%2420database/elasticsearch/qAnXu5w3pn4/Te1vli7dfccJ)appear positive, but I have an issue that I have not seen discussed. If I
want to change an index mapping, I need to flush the index. This deletes
everything I have stored on Elasticsearch.
Is there an alternative?
--
---
### Author:  [@radu\_gheorghe](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/radu_gheorghe)
#### Post date: [October 17, 2012, 4:06pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/using-elasticsearch-as-my-primary-database/9395/2 "2012-10-17T16:06:48Z")
Hello Amy,
If you add new fields to your mapping, it should work just fine
(they're added to your current mapping). If you try to change the type
of a certain field in your mapping, you will get an error, but
flushing[0] the index doesn't delete your data.
If you need to change the type of a field (let's say from long to
float), you have to reindex your data. You can do that on the live
cluster by scrolling[1] through your data and indexing it in a
different type where you have the new mapping.
Of course if your indices become corrupt for any reason (eg: file
system failure), there's no getting away from backups. But that should
be the same for any database.
## Best regards, Radu
[http://sematext.com/](http://sematext.com/) -- Elasticsearch -- Solr -- Lucene
[0] [Elastic — The Search AI Company | Elastic](http://www.elasticsearch.org/guide/reference/api/admin-indices-flush.html)
[1] [Elastic — The Search AI Company | Elastic](http://www.elasticsearch.org/guide/reference/api/search/scroll.html)
On Wed, Oct 17, 2012 at 6:19 PM, Amy [amyblarney@gmail.com](mailto:amyblarney@gmail.com) wrote:
> Hi,
> I'm considering using elasticsearch as my primary db, the alternative being
> a couchbase-elasticsearch combo.
> Group discussions appear positive, but I have an issue that I have not seen
> discussed. If I want to change an index mapping, I need to flush the index.
> This deletes everything I have stored on Elasticsearch.
> Is there an alternative?
>
> --
--
---
### Author:  [@Amy](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Amy)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2012, 8:14am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/using-elasticsearch-as-my-primary-database/9395/3 "2012-10-18T08:14:50Z")
Thank you Radu, that helped. I also found this example of how to reindex in
Perl: [ElasticSearch.pm v0.36, now with extra sugar | Clinton Gormley [blogs.perl.org]](http://blogs.perl.org/users/clinton_gormley/2011/04/elasticsearchpm-v036-now-with-extra-sugar.html)
On Wednesday, October 17, 2012 5:06:54 PM UTC+1, Radu Gheorghe wrote:
> Hello Amy,
>
> If you add new fields to your mapping, it should work just fine
> (they're added to your current mapping). If you try to change the type
> of a certain field in your mapping, you will get an error, but
> flushing[0] the index doesn't delete your data.
>
> If you need to change the type of a field (let's say from long to
> float), you have to reindex your data. You can do that on the live
> cluster by scrolling[1] through your data and indexing it in a
> different type where you have the new mapping.
>
> Of course if your indices become corrupt for any reason (eg: file
> system failure), there's no getting away from backups. But that should
> be the same for any database.
>
> ## Best regards, Radu
>
> [http://sematext.com/](http://sematext.com/) -- Elasticsearch -- Solr -- Lucene
>
> [0]
> [Elasticsearch Platform — Find real-time answers at scale | Elastic](http://www.elasticsearch.org/guide/reference/api/admin-indices-flush.html)
> [1] [Elasticsearch Platform — Find real-time answers at scale | Elastic](http://www.elasticsearch.org/guide/reference/api/search/scroll.html)
>
> On Wed, Oct 17, 2012 at 6:19 PM, Amy \<[amybl...@gmail.com](mailto:amybl...@gmail.com) \\>
> wrote:
>
> > Hi,
> > I'm considering using elasticsearch as my primary db, the alternative
> > being
> > a couchbase-elasticsearch combo.
> > Group discussions appear positive, but I have an issue that I have not
> > seen
> > discussed. If I want to change an index mapping, I need to flush the
> > index.
> > This deletes everything I have stored on Elasticsearch.
> > Is there an alternative?
> >
> > --
--
---
### Author:  [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)
#### Post date: [July 6, 2017, 3:08am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/using-elasticsearch-as-my-primary-database/9395/4 "2017-07-06T03:08:10Z")