Briefly, this error occurs when Elasticsearch is unable to restore an index due to various reasons such as the index already existing, insufficient permissions, or a mismatch in the version of Elasticsearch. To resolve this issue, you can try deleting the existing index before restoring, ensuring the user has the necessary permissions, or checking that the version of Elasticsearch used to create the snapshot matches the version you’re trying to restore it to.
This guide will help you check for common problems that cause the log ” cannot restore index [” + index + “] because it cannot be ” to appear. To understand the issues related to this log, read the explanation below about the following Elasticsearch concepts: index, restore.
Overview
In Elasticsearch, an index (plural: indices) contains a schema and can have one or more shards and replicas. An Elasticsearch index is divided into shards and each shard is an instance of a Lucene index.
Indices are used to store the documents in dedicated data structures corresponding to the data type of fields. For example, text fields are stored inside an inverted index whereas numeric and geo fields are stored inside BKD trees.
Examples
Create index
The following example is based on Elasticsearch version 5.x onwards. An index with two shards, each having one replica will be created with the name test_index1
PUT /test_index1?pretty
{
"settings" : {
"number_of_shards" : 2,
"number_of_replicas" : 1
},
"mappings" : {
"properties" : {
"tags" : { "type" : "keyword" },
"updated_at" : { "type" : "date" }
}
}
}List indices
All the index names and their basic information can be retrieved using the following command:
GET _cat/indices?v
Index a document
Let’s add a document in the index with the command below:
PUT test_index1/_doc/1
{
"tags": [
"opster",
"elasticsearch"
],
"date": "01-01-2020"
}Query an index
GET test_index1/_search
{
"query": {
"match_all": {}
}
}Query multiple indices
It is possible to search multiple indices with a single request. If it is a raw HTTP request, index names should be sent in comma-separated format, as shown in the example below, and in the case of a query via a programming language client such as python or Java, index names are to be sent in a list format.
GET test_index1,test_index2/_search
Delete indices
DELETE test_index1
Common problems
- It is good practice to define the settings and mapping of an Index wherever possible because if this is not done, Elasticsearch tries to automatically guess the data type of fields at the time of indexing. This automatic process may have disadvantages, such as mapping conflicts, duplicate data and incorrect data types being set in the index. If the fields are not known in advance, it’s better to use dynamic index templates.
- Elasticsearch supports wildcard patterns in Index names, which sometimes aids with querying multiple indices, but can also be very destructive too. For example, It is possible to delete all the indices in a single command using the following commands:
DELETE /*
To disable this, you can add the following lines in the elasticsearch.yml:
action.destructive_requires_name: true
Overview
In Elasticsearch, restore refers to the snapshot restore mechanism, which returns indices or clusters to a previous, saved state. You can restore the entire cluster from the snapshot or restore an individual index or selected indices.
Examples
To restore the whole snapshot:
POST /_snapshot/my_backup/snapshot-01-11-2019/_restore
To restore an individual index:
POST /_snapshot/my_backup/snapshot-01-11-2019/_restore
{
"indices": "my_index"
}Notes
- If you are using a security tool like Searchguard, the snapshot restore capability must be enabled in elasticsearch.yml. Otherwise, it will throw a security exception.
Common issues
- If an index or indices already exist with the same names as those you are going to restore, they need to either be closed or deleted before you can restore from a snapshot. Otherwise, the restore operation will fail due to an error that the index already exists.
Log Context
Log “cannot restore index [” + index + “] because it cannot be ” class name is RestoreService.java. We extracted the following from Elasticsearch source code for those seeking an in-depth context :
request.indexSettings(); request.ignoreIndexSettings());
try {
snapshotIndexMetaData = metaDataIndexUpgradeService.upgradeIndexMetaData(snapshotIndexMetaData;
minIndexCompatibilityVersion);
} catch (Exception ex) {
throw new SnapshotRestoreException(snapshot; "cannot restore index [" + index + "] because it cannot be " +
"upgraded"; ex);
}
// Check that the index is closed or doesn't exist
IndexMetaData currentIndexMetaData = currentState.metaData().index(renamedIndexName);
IntSet ignoreShards = new IntHashSet();
