Briefly, this error occurs when Elasticsearch fails to add a lifecycle policy for an index. This could be due to incorrect policy configuration, insufficient permissions, or the policy not existing. To resolve this, ensure the policy is correctly configured and exists. Also, check that the user has the necessary permissions to add a lifecycle policy. If the issue persists, try restarting Elasticsearch or reindexing the data.
This guide will help you check for common problems that cause the log ” error adding lifecycle policy [%s] for [%s] ” to appear. To understand the issues related to this log, read the explanation below about the following Elasticsearch concepts: plugin, template.
If you want to learn more about Elasticsearch templates, check out this guide.
Overview
A template in Elasticsearch falls into one of the two following categories and is indexed inside Elasticsearch using its dedicated endpoint:
- Index templates, which are a way to define a set of rules including index settings, mappings and an index pattern. The template is applied automatically whenever a new index is created with the matching pattern. Templates are also used to dynamically apply custom mapping for the fields which are not predefined inside existing mapping.
- Search templates, which help in defining templates for search queries using mustache scripting language. These templates act as a placeholder for variables defined inside the search queries.
Examples
Create a dynamic index template
PUT /_template/template_1?pretty
{
"index_patterns": [
"logs*",
"api*"
],
"settings": {
"number_of_shards": 2
},
"mappings": {
"dynamic_templates": [
{
"strings": {
"match_mapping_type": "string",
"mapping": {
"type": "keyword"
}
}
}
],
"properties": {
"host_name": {
"type": "keyword"
},
"created_at": {
"type": "date"
}
}
}
}Create a search template
POST /_scripts/search_template_1?pretty
{
"script": {
"lang": "mustache",
"source": {
"query": {
"match": {
"description": "{{query_string}}"
}
}
}
}
}Executing a search query using search template
GET /_search/template?pretty
{
"id": "search_template_1",
"params": {
"query_string": "hello world"
}
}The search request will be executed by default on all the indices available in the cluster and can be limited to particular indices using an index parameter.
Notes
- A dynamic index template is always useful when you do not know the field names in advance and want to control their mapping as per the business use case.
Log Context
Log “error adding lifecycle policy [%s] for [%s]” classname is IndexTemplateRegistry.java.
We extracted the following from Elasticsearch source code for those seeking an in-depth context :
* Called when creation of a lifecycle policy fails.
* @param policy The lifecycle policy that failed to be created.
* @param e The exception that caused the failure.
*/
protected void onPutPolicyFailure(LifecyclePolicy policy; Exception e) {
logger.error(() -> format("error adding lifecycle policy [%s] for [%s]"; policy.getName(); getOrigin()); e);
}
@Override
public void clusterChanged(ClusterChangedEvent event) {
ClusterState state = event.state();
