Clone an index Added in 7.4.0

POST /{index}/_clone/{target}

Clone an existing index into a new index. Each original primary shard is cloned into a new primary shard in the new index.

IMPORTANT: Elasticsearch does not apply index templates to the resulting index. The API also does not copy index metadata from the original index. Index metadata includes aliases, index lifecycle management phase definitions, and cross-cluster replication (CCR) follower information. For example, if you clone a CCR follower index, the resulting clone will not be a follower index.

The clone API copies most index settings from the source index to the resulting index, with the exception of index.number_of_replicas and index.auto_expand_replicas. To set the number of replicas in the resulting index, configure these settings in the clone request.

Cloning works as follows:

  • First, it creates a new target index with the same definition as the source index.
  • Then it hard-links segments from the source index into the target index. If the file system does not support hard-linking, all segments are copied into the new index, which is a much more time consuming process.
  • Finally, it recovers the target index as though it were a closed index which had just been re-opened.

IMPORTANT: Indices can only be cloned if they meet the following requirements:

  • The target index must not exist.
  • The source index must have the same number of primary shards as the target index.
  • The node handling the clone process must have sufficient free disk space to accommodate a second copy of the existing index.

Path parameters

  • index string Required

    Name of the source index to clone.

  • target string Required

    Name of the target index to create.

Query parameters

  • master_timeout string

    Period to wait for a connection to the master node. If no response is received before the timeout expires, the request fails and returns an error.

  • timeout string

    Period to wait for a response. If no response is received before the timeout expires, the request fails and returns an error.

  • wait_for_active_shards number | string

    The number of shard copies that must be active before proceeding with the operation. Set to all or any positive integer up to the total number of shards in the index (number_of_replicas+1).

application/json

Body

  • aliases object

    Aliases for the resulting index.

    Hide aliases attribute Show aliases attribute object
  • settings object

    Configuration options for the target index.

    Hide settings attribute Show settings attribute object
    • * object Additional properties

      Additional properties are allowed.

Responses

POST /{index}/_clone/{target} 
curl \
 -X POST http://api.example.com/{index}/_clone/{target} \
 -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
 -d '"{\n  \"settings\": {\n    \"index.number_of_shards\": 5\n  },\n  \"aliases\": {\n    \"my_search_indices\": {}\n  }\n}"'
Request example
Clone `my_source_index` into a new index called `my_target_index` with `POST /my_source_index/_clone/my_target_index`. The API accepts `settings` and `aliases` parameters for the target index. 
{
  "settings": {
    "index.number_of_shards": 5
  },
  "aliases": {
    "my_search_indices": {}
  }
}
Response examples (200) 
{
  "acknowledged": true,
  "index": "string",
  "shards_acknowledged": true
}