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Elasticsearch: updating the mappings and settings of an existing index

Elasticsearch: updating the mappings and settings of an existing index

Note: This was written using elasticsearch 0.9.

Elasticsearch will automatically create an index (with basic settings and mappings) for you if you post a first document:

$ curl -X POST 'http://localhost:9200/thegame/weapons/1' -d \
'{
  "_id": 1,
  "name": "Longsword",
  "description": "The Longsword can be wielded in one or two hands and is also known as a Bastard Sword. It combines power, speed and reach to become one of the most well rounded weapons.",
  "category": "Sharp"
}'

You can see the settings (for the index) and mapping (for the weapons type) with:

$ curl -X GET 'http://localhost:9200/thegame/_settings'
$ curl -X GET 'http://localhost:9200/thegame/weapons/_mapping'

To update the settings, if you're defining new analyzers or filters, you first need to _close the index, then _open it when done updating:

$ curl -X POST 'http://localhost:9200/thegame/_close'

$ curl -X PUT 'http://localhost:9200/thegame/_settings' -d \
'{
  "analysis": {
    "analyzer": {
      "full_name": {
        "filter": [
          "standard",
          "lowercase",
          "asciifolding"
        ],
          "type": "custom",
          "tokenizer": "standard"
      }
    }
  }
}'

$ curl -X POST 'http://localhost:9200/thegame/_open'

To update the mappings of this existing index, you need to do it for each type (here we only have the weapons type):

$ curl -X PUT 'http://localhost:9200/thegame/weapons/_mapping?ignore_conflicts=true' -d \
'{
  "weapons": {
    "properties": {
      "name": {
        "type": "string",
        "analyzer": "full_name"
      },
      "description": {
        "type": "string"
      },
      "category": {
        "type": "string"
      }
    }
  }
}'

You can do all of this at once if you delete then re-create your index, but you will loose all stored documents, so you will have to reload them. But sometimes for big changes to mapping/settings, this makes more sense:

$ curl -X DELETE 'http://localhost:9200/thegame'
$ curl -X POST 'http://localhost:9200/thegame' -d \
'{
  "mappings": {
    "weapons": {
      "properties": {
        "name": {
          "type": "string",
          "analyzer": "full_name"
        },
        "description": {
          "type": "string"
        },
        "category": {
          "type": "string"
        }
      }
    }
  },
  "settings": {
    "analysis": {
      "analyzer": {
        "full_name": {
          "filter": [
            "standard",
            "lowercase",
            "asciifolding"
          ],
            "type": "custom",
            "tokenizer": "standard"
        }
      }
    }
  }
}'
@divyenduz
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I am not sure if "update mappings" part works anymore. I think that now the option is to delete and recreate an index. To do this without downtime, official docs: https://www.elastic.co/blog/changing-mapping-with-zero-downtime

@sachin032
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Why it is not working on ES version 2.4.0
I tried this and got error :

{
"error": {
"root_cause": [
{
"type": "illegal_argument_exception",
"reason": "Mapper for [name] conflicts with existing mapping in other types:\n[mapper [name] has different [analyzer]]"
}
],
"type": "illegal_argument_exception",
"reason": "Mapper for [name] conflicts with existing mapping in other types:\n[mapper [name] has different [analyzer]]"
},
"status": 400
}

@shd101wyy
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I also got the same error. (I am using version 5.0.0)

@MPurcell-EDR
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MPurcell-EDR commented Feb 8, 2017

Although not listed, the fields with mapping conflicts are strings with the 'standard' analyzer on them. If you try to add an analyzer that conflicts with the present standard analyzer, you will get the above warning. I always recommend listing the standard analyzer on all string fields, so if you have to make an adjustment in the future you will see why you're having mappings conflicts.

@abhishek3112
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I found exeception like "merge_mapping _exception" while changing the type String to date.
My command is:
curl -X PUT "http://{url}/{index}/json/_mapping?ignore_conflicts=true" -d "{"json": {"properties": {"Sent_Date": {"type": "date"}}}}"

@stephen-talari
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@mpurcell
I think it's now not possible to update mapping on existing fields. Updating mapping is only possible for new fields.
https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/indices-put-mapping.html#updating-field-mappings

I added default standard analyzer for name field while creating the index
and then updated settings (adding full_name analyzer by closing index and then opening it)
and then tried updating mapping (changing the analyzer on name field from standard to full_name analyzer). This step triggers error with Mapper for [name] conflicts with existing mapping in other types.

@ometa
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ometa commented Dec 11, 2017

Exactly what I was looking for; thanks.

@joeyhacker
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joeyhacker commented Mar 8, 2018

Updating existing mappings

Other than where documented, existing type and field mappings cannot be updated. Changing the mapping would mean invalidating already indexed documents. Instead, you should create a new index with the correct mappings and reindex your data into that index.

@dennypenta
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I got in trouble with mapping.

  • I created mapping, ok.
  • I inserted document into the index, ok.
  • I looked at mapping, it has been changed.
    Do you have any idea what could go wrong?

@chairus
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chairus commented Aug 4, 2018

Clear explanation! Thanks!

@palbiplab
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@dennypenta, elasticsearch supports dynamic filed mapping and because of which inserting document creates/changes the mapping dynamically. If you want to disable this feature, please use dynamic=false or strict as part of the mapping.

@shubham-sharma16
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Hi, can you tell how we can check what were the configurations made in custom analyzer later because the mapping command shows the name of custom analyzer does not specify what is its configuration.

@SomberOfShadow
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I wonder whether we can put mapping by programming with JAVA API, not this way.
And I had a try according to ElasticSearch guide , but failed.

https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/client/java-rest/master/java-rest-high-put-mapping.html

@hajimurtaza
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hajimurtaza commented Apr 7, 2020

Adding _type field to an existing index

I created an index without _type , can I update the index to add type to my document?
I am not talking about field types for properties, I am talking about index type

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