Why `/_cat/indices` shows system indices?

Elastic Stack Elasticsearch
1

The system indices have names starting with a dot, like .xxxxxx. And usually, the command GET _cat/indices/_all does not show the system indices, so they are hidden by default.

For learning purposes, we recently went through the entire cluster restoration following this procedure. It seems that the procedure includes steps of changing settings.

The restoration itself was successful. However, we realized the command GET _cat/indices/_all now shows the system indices.

Our Question:

Is there something in the setting to control the visibilities of the system indices?

Sample screen output:

  • For the command GET /_cat/indices, the output is:
yellow open logstash                          3k8zxeK9Qs2Ds8Pnb9USAg 1 1    200    0 193.8kb 193.8kb
green  open .monitoring-kibana-7-2023.07.06   tRKRFhnkTP2jmr3koSaE0g 1 0      6    0  53.4kb  53.4kb
green  open .monitoring-logstash-7-2023.07.06 aMGdx9qVQHiFLcw4woZwjA 1 0     24    0 102.9kb 102.9kb
yellow open my-index-000001                   lIwe4OsPRpqvB8uRNx5nfA 3 2 111113 1689  78.1mb  78.1mb
green  open .monitoring-es-7-2023.07.06       Hq3AvL4eRUisCDkCa6xfEQ 1 0     76   33 747.4kb 747.4kb
  • For the command GET _cat/indices/_all?expand_wildcards=all, the output is:
green  open .ds-ilm-history-5-2023.02.17-000001                           025AFMNfQXSxkCZX3D4bew 1 0      9    0    28kb    28kb
green  open .kibana_task_manager_8.6.1_001                                kfhf654aS7KTrAZIfNHLfw 1 0     25 5993     1mb     1mb
green  open .apm-agent-configuration                                      qcOOglD0Szmag6wRUt7VAA 1 0      0    0    225b    225b
green  open .monitoring-es-7-2023.07.06                                   Hq3AvL4eRUisCDkCa6xfEQ 1 0     76   33   1.2mb   1.2mb
green  open .kibana-event-log-8.6.1-000001                                JAaq-2zHTr2dAS84vWKZhw 1 0      7    0  47.9kb  47.9kb
green  open .geoip_databases                                              8sDPeBfLTfyDriWgEj6Sig 1 0     42   42    40mb    40mb
green  open .kibana-event-log-8.6.1-000002                                1oK397fMS8eDy-XS6QXXeg 1 0      0    0    225b    225b
yellow open logstash                                                      3k8zxeK9Qs2Ds8Pnb9USAg 1 1    200    0 193.8kb 193.8kb
green  open .ds-.logs-deprecation.elasticsearch-default-2023.06.19-000003 f9VNYgiSTHiriRpJVJbaSA 1 0      3    0  24.1kb  24.1kb
green  open .ds-ilm-history-5-2023.06.19-000003                           _yxj6Mf9Q0uOItYXs9eIOw 1 0     18    0  22.7kb  22.7kb
green  open .monitoring-kibana-7-2023.07.06                               tRKRFhnkTP2jmr3koSaE0g 1 0      6    0  53.4kb  53.4kb
green  open .apm-custom-link                                              QEOZ8Cm4R3-A-PZlB_Z31Q 1 0      0    0    225b    225b
green  open .kibana_8.6.1_001                                             WClCZ-xSREeuCVJE2cAKJw 1 0    335  209   2.5mb   2.5mb
green  open .ds-ilm-history-5-2023.05.18-000002                           bbo_chYDQI-zM2zItXVaIQ 1 0     21    0  13.5kb  13.5kb
green  open .async-search                                                 gjDLMRaAQU-cH5N9MobgJQ 1 0      0    0    256b    256b
green  open .monitoring-logstash-7-2023.07.06                             aMGdx9qVQHiFLcw4woZwjA 1 0     24    0 116.6kb 116.6kb
green  open .ds-.logs-deprecation.elasticsearch-default-2023.05.18-000002 ZmXuZAOATj-_mkAxFXEL3g 1 0      2    0  23.6kb  23.6kb
yellow open my-index-000001                                               lIwe4OsPRpqvB8uRNx5nfA 3 2 111113 1689  78.1mb  78.1mb
2

Hey @Mike_Z!

The index setting index.hidden will determine if the index is displayed or hidden by default. Default is false.

Check out this link.

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