Briefly, this error occurs when Elasticsearch detects old metadata state during the process of loading metadata. This could be due to an upgrade or migration where the new version of Elasticsearch uses a different metadata structure. To resolve this issue, you can allow Elasticsearch to automatically convert the old metadata to the new structure. Alternatively, you can manually migrate the metadata to the new structure before starting Elasticsearch. Lastly, ensure that all nodes in the cluster are running the same version of Elasticsearch to avoid inconsistencies.
This guide will help you check for common problems that cause the log ” found old metadata state; loading metadata from [{}] and converting to new metadata location and strucutre… ” to appear. To understand the issues related to this log, read the explanation below about the following Elasticsearch concepts: metadata.
Overview
Metadata in Elasticsearch refers to additional information stored for each document. This is achieved using the specific metadata fields available in Elasticsearch. The default behavior of some of these metadata fields can be customized during mapping creation.
Examples
Using _meta meta-field for storing application-specific information with the mapping:
PUT /my_index?pretty
{
"mappings": {
"_meta": {
"domain": "security",
"release_information": {
"date": "18-01-2020",
"version": "7.5"
}
}
}
}Notes
- In version 2.x, Elasticsearch had a total 13 meta fields available, which are: _index, _uid, _type, _id, _source, _size, _all, _field_names, _timestamp, _ttl, _parent, _routing, _meta
- In version 5.x, _timestamp and _ttl meta fields were removed.
- In version 6.x, the _parent meta field was removed.
- In version 7.x, _uid and _all meta fields were removed.
Log Context
Log “found old metadata state; loading metadata from [{}] and converting to new metadata location and strucutre…” classname is LocalGatewayMetaState.java.
We extracted the following from Elasticsearch source code for those seeking an in-depth context :
}
if (metaData == null) {
return;
}
logger.info("found old metadata state; loading metadata from [{}] and converting to new metadata location and strucutre..."; metaDataFile.getAbsolutePath());
writeGlobalState("upgrade"; MetaData.builder(metaData).version(version).build(); null);
for (IndexMetaData indexMetaData : metaData) {
IndexMetaData.Builder indexMetaDataBuilder = IndexMetaData.builder(indexMetaData).version(version);
// set the created version to 0.18
