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Step 3: Load the index template in Elasticsearch

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Step 3: Load the index template in Elasticsearch

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A connection to Elasticsearch is required to load the index template. If the output is not Elasticsearch, you must load the template manually.

In Elasticsearch, index templates are used to define settings and mappings that determine how fields should be analyzed.

The recommended index template file for Metricbeat is installed by the Metricbeat packages. If you accept the default configuration in the metricbeat.yml config file, Metricbeat loads the template automatically after successfully connecting to Elasticsearch. If the template already exists, it’s not overwritten unless you configure Metricbeat to do so.

Configure template loading

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By default, Metricbeat automatically loads the recommended template file, fields.yml, if the Elasticsearch output is enabled. If you want to use the default index template, no additional configuration is required. Otherwise, you can change the defaults in the metricbeat.yml config file to:

Load a different template
```
setup.template.name: "your_template_name"
setup.template.fields: "path/to/fields.yml"
```
If the template already exists, it’s not overwritten unless you configure Metricbeat to do so.
Overwrite an existing template
```
setup.template.overwrite: true
```
Disable automatic template loading
```
setup.template.enabled: false
```
If you disable automatic template loading, you need to load the template manually.
Change the index name

By default, Metricbeat writes events to indices named metricbeat-6.8.23-yyyy.MM.dd, where yyyy.MM.dd is the date when the events were indexed. To use a different name, you set the index option in the Elasticsearch output. The value that you specify should include the root name of the index plus version and date information. You also need to configure the setup.template.name and setup.template.pattern options to match the new name. For example:
```
output.elasticsearch.index: "customname-%{[beat.version]}-%{+yyyy.MM.dd}"
setup.template.name: "customname"
setup.template.pattern: "customname-*"
```
If you’re using pre-built Kibana dashboards, also set the setup.dashboards.index option. For example:
```
setup.dashboards.index: "customname-*"
```

See Load the Elasticsearch index template for the full list of configuration options.

Load the template manually

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To load the template manually, run the setup command. A connection to Elasticsearch is required. If another output is enabled, you need to temporarily disable that output and enable Elasticsearch by using the -E option. The examples here assume that Logstash output is enabled. You can omit the -E flags if Elasticsearch output is already enabled.

If you are connecting to a secured Elasticsearch cluster, make sure you’ve configured credentials as described in Step 2: Configure Metricbeat.

If the host running Metricbeat does not have direct connectivity to Elasticsearch, see Load the template manually (alternate method).

To load the template, use the appropriate command for your system.

deb and rpm:

metricbeat setup --template -E output.logstash.enabled=false -E 'output.elasticsearch.hosts=["localhost:9200"]'

mac:

./metricbeat setup --template -E output.logstash.enabled=false -E 'output.elasticsearch.hosts=["localhost:9200"]'

linux:

./metricbeat setup --template -E output.logstash.enabled=false -E 'output.elasticsearch.hosts=["localhost:9200"]'

docker:

docker run docker.elastic.co/beats/metricbeat:6.8.23 setup --template -E output.logstash.enabled=false -E 'output.elasticsearch.hosts=["localhost:9200"]'

win:

Open a PowerShell prompt as an Administrator (right-click the PowerShell icon and select Run As Administrator).

From the PowerShell prompt, change to the directory where you installed Metricbeat, and run:

PS > .\metricbeat.exe setup --template -E output.logstash.enabled=false -E 'output.elasticsearch.hosts=["localhost:9200"]'

Force Kibana to look at newest documents

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If you’ve already used Metricbeat to index data into Elasticsearch, the index may contain old documents. After you load the index template, you can delete the old documents from metricbeat-* to force Kibana to look at the newest documents.

Use this command:

deb and rpm:

curl -XDELETE 'http://localhost:9200/metricbeat-*'

mac:

curl -XDELETE 'http://localhost:9200/metricbeat-*'

linux:

curl -XDELETE 'http://localhost:9200/metricbeat-*'

win:

PS > Invoke-RestMethod -Method Delete "http://localhost:9200/metricbeat-*"

This command deletes all indices that match the pattern metricbeat-*. Before running this command, make sure you want to delete all indices that match the pattern.

Load the template manually (alternate method)

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If the host running Metricbeat does not have direct connectivity to Elasticsearch, you can export the index template to a file, move it to a machine that does have connectivity, and then install the template manually.

To export the index template, run:

deb and rpm:

metricbeat export template > metricbeat.template.json

mac:

./metricbeat export template > metricbeat.template.json

linux:

./metricbeat export template > metricbeat.template.json

win:

PS > .\metricbeat.exe export template --es.version 6.8.23 | Out-File -Encoding UTF8 metricbeat.template.json

To install the template, run:

deb and rpm:

curl -XPUT -H 'Content-Type: application/json' http://localhost:9200/_template/metricbeat-6.8.23 -d@metricbeat.template.json

mac:

curl -XPUT -H 'Content-Type: application/json' http://localhost:9200/_template/metricbeat-6.8.23 -d@metricbeat.template.json

linux:

curl -XPUT -H 'Content-Type: application/json' http://localhost:9200/_template/metricbeat-6.8.23 -d@metricbeat.template.json

win:

PS > Invoke-RestMethod -Method Put -ContentType "application/json" -InFile metricbeat.template.json -Uri http://localhost:9200/_template/metricbeat-6.8.23

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