elasticsearch/docs/reference/indices/rollover-index.asciidoc

[[indices-rollover-index]]
== Rollover Index

The rollover index API rolls an <<indices-aliases, alias>> to a new index when
the existing index meets a condition you provide. You can use this API to retire
an index that becomes too large or too old.

NOTE: To roll over an index, a condition must be met *when you call the API*.
{es} does not monitor the index after you receive an API response. To
automatically roll over indices when a condition is met, you can use {es}'s
<<index-lifecycle-management, index lifecycle management (ILM) policies>>.

The API accepts a single alias name and a list of `conditions`. The alias must point to a write index for
a Rollover request to be valid. There are two ways this can be achieved, and depending on the configuration, the
alias metadata will be updated differently. The two scenarios are as follows:

 - The alias only points to a single index with `is_write_index` not configured (defaults to `null`).

In this scenario, the original index will have their rollover alias will be added to the newly created index, and removed
from the original (rolled-over) index.

 - The alias points to one or more indices with `is_write_index` set to `true` on the index to be rolled over (the write index).

In this scenario, the write index will have its rollover alias' `is_write_index` set to `false`, while the newly created index
will now have the rollover alias pointing to it as the write index with `is_write_index` as `true`.

The available conditions are:

[[index-rollover-conditions]]
.`conditions` parameters
[options="header"]
|===
| Name     | Description
| max_age  | The maximum age of the index
| max_docs | The maximum number of documents the index should contain. This does not add documents multiple times for replicas
| max_size | The maximum estimated size of the primary shard of the index
|===

[source,js]
--------------------------------------------------
PUT /logs-000001 <1>
{
  "aliases": {
    "logs_write": {}
  }
}

# Add > 1000 documents to logs-000001

POST /logs_write/_rollover <2>
{
  "conditions": {
    "max_age":   "7d",
    "max_docs":  1000,
    "max_size":  "5gb"
  }
}
--------------------------------------------------
// CONSOLE
// TEST[setup:huge_twitter]
// TEST[s/# Add > 1000 documents to logs-000001/POST _reindex?refresh\n{"source":{"index":"twitter"},"dest":{"index":"logs-000001"}}/]
<1> Creates an index called `logs-0000001` with the alias `logs_write`.
<2> If the index pointed to by `logs_write` was created 7 or more days ago, or
    contains 1,000 or more documents, or has an index size at least around 5GB, then the `logs-000002` index is created
    and the `logs_write` alias is updated to point to `logs-000002`.

The above request might return the following response:

[source,js]
--------------------------------------------------
{
  "acknowledged": true,
  "shards_acknowledged": true,
  "old_index": "logs-000001",
  "new_index": "logs-000002",
  "rolled_over": true, <1>
  "dry_run": false, <2>
  "conditions": { <3>
    "[max_age: 7d]": false,
    "[max_docs: 1000]": true,
    "[max_size: 5gb]": false,
  }
}
--------------------------------------------------
// TESTRESPONSE
<1> Whether the index was rolled over.
<2> Whether the rollover was dry run.
<3> The result of each condition.

[float]
=== Naming the new index

If the name of the existing index ends with `-` and a number -- e.g.
`logs-000001` -- then the name of the new index will follow the same pattern,
incrementing the number (`logs-000002`). The number is zero-padded with a length
of 6, regardless of the old index name.

If the old name doesn't match this pattern then you must specify the name for
the new index as follows:

[source,js]
--------------------------------------------------
POST /my_alias/_rollover/my_new_index_name
{
  "conditions": {
    "max_age":   "7d",
    "max_docs":  1000,
    "max_size": "5gb"
  }
}
--------------------------------------------------
// CONSOLE
// TEST[s/^/PUT my_old_index_name\nPUT my_old_index_name\/_alias\/my_alias\n/]

[float]
=== Using date math with the rollover API

It can be useful to use <<date-math-index-names,date math>> to name the
rollover index according to the date that the index rolled over, e.g.
`logstash-2016.02.03`.  The rollover API supports date math, but requires the
index name to end with a dash followed by a number, e.g.
`logstash-2016.02.03-1` which is incremented every time the index is rolled
over. For instance:

[source,js]
--------------------------------------------------
# PUT /<logs-{now/d}-1> with URI encoding:
PUT /%3Clogs-%7Bnow%2Fd%7D-1%3E <1>
{
  "aliases": {
    "logs_write": {}
  }
}

PUT logs_write/_doc/1
{
  "message": "a dummy log"
}

POST logs_write/_refresh

# Wait for a day to pass

POST /logs_write/_rollover <2>
{
  "conditions": {
    "max_docs":   "1"
  }
}
--------------------------------------------------
// CONSOLE
// TEST[s/now/2016.10.31||/]
<1> Creates an index named with today's date (e.g.) `logs-2016.10.31-1`
<2> Rolls over to a new index with today's date, e.g. `logs-2016.10.31-000002` if run immediately, or `logs-2016.11.01-000002` if run after 24 hours

//////////////////////////

[source,js]
--------------------------------------------------
GET _alias
--------------------------------------------------
// CONSOLE
// TEST[continued]

[source,js]
--------------------------------------------------
{
  "logs-2016.10.31-000002": {
    "aliases": {
      "logs_write": {}
    }
  },
  "logs-2016.10.31-1": {
    "aliases": {}
  }
}
--------------------------------------------------
// TESTRESPONSE

//////////////////////////

These indices can then be referenced as described in the
<<date-math-index-names,date math documentation>>.  For example, to search
over indices created in the last three days, you could do the following:

[source,js]
--------------------------------------------------
# GET /<logs-{now/d}-*>,<logs-{now/d-1d}-*>,<logs-{now/d-2d}-*>/_search
GET /%3Clogs-%7Bnow%2Fd%7D-*%3E%2C%3Clogs-%7Bnow%2Fd-1d%7D-*%3E%2C%3Clogs-%7Bnow%2Fd-2d%7D-*%3E/_search
--------------------------------------------------
// CONSOLE
// TEST[continued]
// TEST[s/now/2016.10.31||/]

[float]
=== Defining the new index

The settings, mappings, and aliases for the new index are taken from any
matching <<indices-templates,index templates>>. Additionally, you can specify
`settings`, `mappings`, and `aliases` in the body of the request, just like the
<<indices-create-index,create index>> API. Values specified in the request
override any values set in matching index templates. For example, the following
`rollover` request overrides the `index.number_of_shards` setting:

[source,js]
--------------------------------------------------
PUT /logs-000001
{
  "aliases": {
    "logs_write": {}
  }
}

POST /logs_write/_rollover
{
  "conditions" : {
    "max_age": "7d",
    "max_docs": 1000,
    "max_size": "5gb"
  },
  "settings": {
    "index.number_of_shards": 2
  }
}
--------------------------------------------------
// CONSOLE

[float]
=== Dry run

The rollover API supports `dry_run` mode, where request conditions can be
checked without performing the actual rollover:

[source,js]
--------------------------------------------------
PUT /logs-000001
{
  "aliases": {
    "logs_write": {}
  }
}

POST /logs_write/_rollover?dry_run
{
  "conditions" : {
    "max_age": "7d",
    "max_docs": 1000,
    "max_size": "5gb"
  }
}
--------------------------------------------------
// CONSOLE

[float]
=== Wait For Active Shards

Because the rollover operation creates a new index to rollover to, the
<<create-index-wait-for-active-shards,`wait_for_active_shards`>> setting on
index creation applies to the rollover action as well.

[[indices-rollover-is-write-index]]
[float]
=== Write Index Alias Behavior

The rollover alias when rolling over a write index that has `is_write_index` explicitly set to `true` is not
swapped during rollover actions. Since having an alias point to multiple indices is ambiguous in distinguishing
which is the correct write index to roll over, it is not valid to rollover an alias that points to multiple indices.
For this reason, the default behavior is to swap which index is being pointed to by the write-oriented alias. This
was `logs_write` in some of the above examples. Since setting `is_write_index` enables an alias to point to multiple indices
while also being explicit as to which is the write index that rollover should target, removing the alias from the rolled over
index is not necessary. This simplifies things by allowing for one alias to behave both as the write and read aliases for
indices that are being managed with Rollover.

Look at the behavior of the aliases in the following example where `is_write_index` is set on the rolled over index.

[source,js]
--------------------------------------------------
PUT my_logs_index-000001
{
  "aliases": {
    "logs": { "is_write_index": true } <1>
  }
}

PUT logs/_doc/1
{
  "message": "a dummy log"
}

POST logs/_refresh

POST /logs/_rollover
{
  "conditions": {
    "max_docs":   "1"
  }
}

PUT logs/_doc/2 <2>
{
  "message": "a newer log"
}
--------------------------------------------------
// CONSOLE
<1> configures `my_logs_index` as the write index for the `logs` alias
<2> newly indexed documents against the `logs` alias will write to the new index

[source,js]
--------------------------------------------------
{
  "_index" : "my_logs_index-000002",
  "_type" : "_doc",
  "_id" : "2",
  "_version" : 1,
  "result" : "created",
  "_shards" : {
    "total" : 2,
    "successful" : 1,
    "failed" : 0
  },
  "_seq_no" : 0,
  "_primary_term" : 1
}
--------------------------------------------------
// TESTRESPONSE

//////////////////////////
[source,js]
--------------------------------------------------
GET _alias
--------------------------------------------------
// CONSOLE
// TEST[continued]
//////////////////////////

After the rollover, the alias metadata for the two indices will have the `is_write_index` setting
reflect each index's role, with the newly created index as the write index.

[source,js]
--------------------------------------------------
{
  "my_logs_index-000002": {
    "aliases": {
      "logs": { "is_write_index": true }
    }
  },
  "my_logs_index-000001": {
    "aliases": {
      "logs": { "is_write_index" : false }
    }
  }
}
--------------------------------------------------
// TESTRESPONSE