Adding a new analyzer into existing index in Elasticsearch (requires close/open the index). Tested with Elasticsearch 0.19.12.

gistfile1.js

// create an index with an analyzer "myindex"
curl -X PUT localhost:9200/myindex -d '
{
  "settings" : {`
    "index":{
      "number_of_replicas":0,
      "number_of_shards":1,
      "analysis":{
        "analyzer":{
          "first":{
            "type":"whitespace"
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }
}'

// verify analyzers for "myindex"
curl -XGET 'http://localhost:9200/_cluster/state?pretty&filter_nodes=true&filter_routing_table=true&filter_indices=myindex'

# {
#   "cluster_name" : "elasticsearch",
#   "blocks" : { },
#   "metadata" : {
#     "templates" : { },
#     "indices" : {
#       "myindex" : {
#         "state" : "open",
#         "settings" : {
#           "index.number_of_replicas" : "0",
#           "index.number_of_shards" : "1",
#           "index.analysis.analyzer.first.type" : "whitespace",
#           "index.version.created" : "191299"
#         },
#         "mappings" : { },
#         "aliases" : [ ]
#       }
#     }
#   }
# }

// try to add a new analyzer
curl -XPUT 'localhost:9200/myindex/_settings' -d '{
  "analysis" : {
    "analyzer":{
      "second":{
        "type":"custom",
        "tokenizer":"whitespace",
        "filter":["lowercase"]
      }
    }
  }
}'

# {"ok":true}

// but in fact index setting is not modified - the following is found in the log
[WARN ][cluster.metadata         ] [Captain Omen] [myindex] ignoring non dynamic index level settings for open indices: [index.analysis.analyzer.second.type, index.analysis.analyzer.second.tokenizer, index.analysis.analyzer.second.filter.0]

// close the index
curl -XPOST 'localhost:9200/myindex/_close'

# {"ok":true,"acknowledged":true}

// we can verify index is closed
curl -XGET 'http://localhost:9200/_cluster/state?pretty&filter_nodes=true&filter_routing_table=true&filter_indices=myindex'

# {
#   "cluster_name" : "elasticsearch",
#   "blocks" : {
#     "indices" : {
#       "myindex" : {
#         "4" : {
#           "description" : "index closed",  // <--- myindex is closed
#           "retryable" : false,
#           "levels" : [ "read", "write" ]
#         }
#       }
#     }
#   },
#   "metadata" : {
#     "templates" : { },
#     "indices" : {
#       "myindex" : {
#         "state" : "close",  // <--- state: close
#         "settings" : {
#           "index.number_of_replicas" : "0",
#           "index.number_of_shards" : "1",
#           "index.analysis.analyzer.first.type" : "whitespace",
#           "index.version.created" : "191299"
#         },
#         "mappings" : { },
#         "aliases" : [ ]
#       }
#     }
#   }
# }

// try to add a new analyzer again
curl -XPUT 'localhost:9200/myindex/_settings' -d '{
  "analysis" : {
    "analyzer":{
      "second":{
        "type":"custom",
        "tokenizer":"whitespace",
        "filter":["lowercase"]
      }
    }
  }
}'

# {"ok":true}

// we can add a new analyzer now
curl -XGET 'http://localhost:9200/_cluster/state?pretty&filter_nodes=true&filter_routing_table=true&filter_indices=myindex'

# {
#   "cluster_name" : "elasticsearch",
#   "blocks" : {
#     "indices" : {
#       "myindex" : {
#         "4" : {
#           "description" : "index closed",
#           "retryable" : false,
#           "levels" : [ "read", "write" ]
#         }
#       }
#     }
#   },
#   "metadata" : {
#     "templates" : { },
#     "indices" : {
#       "myindex" : {
#         "state" : "close",
#         "settings" : {
#           "index.number_of_replicas" : "0",
#           "index.number_of_shards" : "1",
#           "index.analysis.analyzer.first.type" : "whitespace",
#           "index.version.created" : "191299",
#           "index.analysis.analyzer.second.tokenizer" : "whitespace",
#           "index.analysis.analyzer.second.type" : "custom",
#           "index.analysis.analyzer.second.filter.0" : "lowercase"
#         },
#         "mappings" : { },
#         "aliases" : [ ]
#       }
#     }
#   }
# }

// open the index now
curl -XPOST 'localhost:9200/myindex/_open'

# {"ok":true,"acknowledged":true}

// now everything seems to be ok
curl -XGET 'http://localhost:9200/_cluster/state?pretty&filter_nodes=true&filter_routing_table=true&filter_indices=myindex'

# {
#   "cluster_name" : "elasticsearch",
#   "blocks" : { },
#   "metadata" : {
#     "templates" : { },
#     "indices" : {
#       "myindex" : {
#         "state" : "open",
#         "settings" : {
#           "index.number_of_replicas" : "0",
#           "index.number_of_shards" : "1",
#           "index.analysis.analyzer.first.type" : "whitespace",
#           "index.version.created" : "191299",
#           "index.analysis.analyzer.second.tokenizer" : "whitespace",
#           "index.analysis.analyzer.second.type" : "custom",
#           "index.analysis.analyzer.second.filter.0" : "lowercase"
#         },
#         "mappings" : { },
#         "aliases" : [ ]
#       }
#     }
#   }
# }

Useful, thank you!

Sweet, thanks! Just a heads up, as of ES 1.2.2, adding an analyzer to an open index will not appear to work. The error is returned as it should:

{
    "error": "ElasticsearchIllegalArgumentException[Can't update non dynamic settings[[index.analysis.filter.shingle_filter.type, index.analysis.filter.shingle_filter.min_shingle_size, index.analysis.analyzer.shingle_analyzer.filter.0, index.analysis.analyzer.shingle_analyzer.filter.1, index.analysis.analyzer.shingle_analyzer.tokenizer, index.analysis.filter.shingle_filter.max_shingle_size, index.analysis.analyzer.shingle_analyzer.type]] for open indices[[index]]]",
    "status": 400
}

@samsullivan! it seems your index still open, try closing it first.

backtick is not used properly in first curl command it must be

curl -X PUT localhost:9200/myindex -d ' { "settings" : { "index":{ "number_of_replicas":0, "number_of_shards":1, "analysis":{ "analyzer":{ "first":{ "type":"whitespace" } } } } } }'

You will need close and open your index.
https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/indices-open-close.html

Does not work on AWS (_open & _close)..
You might need to recreate the index with the filter/analyzer.

{
"Message": "Your request: '/dev_product/_close' is not allowed by Amazon Elasticsearch Service."
}

Hi r-martins,
Please share your experience while recreating the analyzer in AWS elasticsearch, and more details about why open and close index does not work for AWS ES. I have my prod infra running and need to verify if recreating the index would help.
Below is the query raised by my development team.

We are trying to define few analyzers to elastic index. Service throwing following error.

{"error":{"root_cause":[{"type":"illegal_argument_exception","reason":"Can't update non dynamic settings [[index.analysis.analyzer.whitespace_analyzer.filter, index.analysis.analyzer.whitespace_analyzer.tokenizer, index.analysis.filter.autocomplete_filter.token_chars, index.analysis.filter.autocomplete_filter.min_gram, index.analysis.analyzer.whitespace_analyzer.type, index.analysis.analyzer.autocomplete_analyzer.type, index.analysis.analyzer.autocomplete_analyzer.tokenizer, index.analysis.filter.autocomplete_filter.type, index.analysis.analyzer.autocomplete_analyzer.filter, index.analysis.filter.autocomplete_filter.max_gram]] for open indices [[nse/aZsP4c90QwWylVhv2eA84g]]"}],"type":"illegal_argument_exception","reason":"Can't update non dynamic settings [[index.analysis.analyzer.whitespace_analyzer.filter, index.analysis.analyzer.whitespace_analyzer.tokenizer, index.analysis.filter.autocomplete_filter.token_chars, index.analysis.filter.autocomplete_filter.min_gram, index.analysis.analyzer.whitespace_analyzer.type, index.analysis.analyzer.autocomplete_analyzer.type, index.analysis.analyzer.autocomplete_analyzer.tokenizer, index.analysis.filter.autocomplete_filter.type, index.analysis.analyzer.autocomplete_analyzer.filter, index.analysis.filter.autocomplete_filter.max_gram]] for open indices [[nse/aZsP4c90QwWylVhv2eA84g]]"},"status":400}

He nitingadekar
Opening and closing indices on AWS elasticsearch is not supported.
https://docs.aws.amazon.com/en_pv/elasticsearch-service/latest/developerguide/aes-supported-es-operations.html

As an update on opening and closing indicies on AWS ES/OpenSearch, this is supported as of V7.4

https://docs.aws.amazon.com/opensearch-service/latest/developerguide/supported-operations.html#version_7_4

But we still need to reindex. such settings doesnt apply to existing data :(