IMPORTANT: No additional bug fixes or documentation updates will be released for this version. For the latest information, see the current release documentation.

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Step 4: Load the index template in Elasticsearch

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Step 4: 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 Winlogbeat is installed by the Winlogbeat packages. If you accept the default configuration in the winlogbeat.yml config file, Winlogbeat loads the template automatically after successfully connecting to Elasticsearch. If the template already exists, it’s not overwritten unless you configure Winlogbeat to do so.

Configure template loading

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By default, Winlogbeat 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 winlogbeat.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 Winlogbeat 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

If you’re sending events to a cluster that supports index lifecycle management, see Index lifecycle management (ILM) to learn how to change the index name.

Winlogbeat uses time series indices, by default, when index lifecycle management is disabled or unsupported. The indices are named winlogbeat-7.6.2-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-%{[agent.version]}-%{+yyyy.MM.dd}"
setup.template.name: "customname"
setup.template.pattern: "customname-*"
```
If index lifecycle management is enabled (which is typically the default), setup.template.name and setup.template.pattern are ignored.

If you’re using pre-built Kibana dashboards, also set the setup.dashboards.index option. For example:
```
setup.dashboards.index: "customname-*"
```

See 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 Winlogbeat.

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

To load the template:

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 Winlogbeat, and run:

PS > .\winlogbeat.exe setup --index-management -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 Winlogbeat to index data into Elasticsearch, the index may contain old documents. After you load the index template, you can delete the old documents from winlogbeat-* to force Kibana to look at the newest documents.

Use this command:

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

This command deletes all indices that match the pattern winlogbeat-*. 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 Winlogbeat 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:

PS > .\winlogbeat.exe export template --es.version 7.6.2 | Out-File -Encoding UTF8 winlogbeat.template.json

To install the template, run:

PS > Invoke-RestMethod -Method Put -ContentType "application/json" -InFile winlogbeat.template.json -Uri http://localhost:9200/_template/winlogbeat-7.6.2

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