Configure index lifecycle management

Use the index lifecycle management feature in Elasticsearch to manage your Packetbeat indices as they age. For example, instead of creating daily indices where index size can vary based on the number of Beats and number of events sent, use an index lifecycle policy to automate a rollover to a new index when the existing index reaches a specified size or age.

Starting with version 7.0, Packetbeat uses index lifecycle management by default when it connects to a cluster that supports lifecycle management. Packetbeat loads the default policy automatically and applies it to any indices created by Packetbeat.

You can view and edit the policy in the Index lifecycle policies UI in Kibana. For more information about working with the UI, see Index lifecyle policies.

Example configuration:

setup.ilm.enabled: auto
setup.ilm.rollover_alias: "packetbeat"
setup.ilm.pattern: "{now/d}-000001" 

You can specify the following settings in the setup.ilm section of the packetbeat.yml config file:

Enables or disables index lifecycle management on any new indices created by Packetbeat. Valid values are true, false, and auto. When auto (the default) is specified on version 7.0 and later, Packetbeat automatically uses index lifecycle management if the feature is enabled in Elasticsearch and has the required license; otherwise, Packetbeat creates daily indices.

The index lifecycle write alias name. The default is packetbeat-%{agent.version}. Setting this option changes the prefix in the alias name. It doesn’t remove agent.version from the alias name.

The rollover index pattern. The default is %{now/d}-000001.

The name to use for the lifecycle policy. The default is packetbeat-%{[agent.version]}.

The path to a JSON file that contains a lifecycle policy configuration. Use this setting to load your own lifecycle policy.

For more information about lifecycle policies, see Set up index lifecycle management policy in the Elasticsearch Reference.

When set to false, disables the check for an existing lifecycle policy. The default is true. You need to disable this check if the Packetbeat user connecting to a secured cluster doesn’t have the read_ilm privilege.

If you set this option to false, set setup.ilm.overwrite: true so the lifecycle policy can be installed.

When set to true, the lifecycle policy is overwritten at startup. The default is false.