Changing field type of an index to new index in Elasticsearch

Question

lets say that I have index that its mapping look like this:

curl -XPUT 'http://localhost:9200/oldindex/_mapping/book' -d '
   {
    "book" : {
        "properties" : {
            "title" : {"type" : "text"},
            "words" : {"type" : "text"},
            "pages": {"type": "int"}
        }
     }
   }'

I want to create a new index from the old index, but now I want the "words" type field to be "keyword" instead of "text":

curl -XPUT 'http://localhost:9200/oldindex/_mapping/book' -d '
       {
        "book" : {
            "properties" : {
                "title" : {"type" : "text"},
                "words" : {"type" : "keyword"},
                "pages": {"type": "int"}
            }
         }
       }'

How can I do that? can I use "Reindex API" or there is a better solution?

Which ES version?

kgf3JfUtW
– kgf3JfUtW

2018-01-16 22:51:33 +00:00
Commented Jan 16, 2018 at 22:51 — kgf3JfUtW
– kgf3JfUtW, Commented Jan 16, 2018 at 22:51
elastic version: 5.6.4

or aspir
– or aspir

2018-01-17 09:08:23 +00:00
Commented Jan 17, 2018 at 9:08 — or aspir
– or aspir, Commented Jan 17, 2018 at 9:08

Moulde · Accepted Answer · 2019-03-11 16:47:58Z

2

Assuming you don't want another field like wordsKeyword on the index, the Reindex API would probably be best. Move your data to a temp index, nuke the index and recreate it (with an updated mapping), then reindex the temp index data back into the new index.
Step by step this is:

Create new index with new mapping.
Copy the data from the old index to the new index via _reindex.
Delete the old index.
Recreate the old index with the new mapping.
Copy the data from the new index to the old index via _reindex.
Delete the new index. -- The "old index" (well technically a new one with the same name) will now have the updated mapping and data. Total of five API calls (two _reindexes to move the data over to new mapping, then to move it back)

If you don't mind having another field and don't want to reindex, you could look into using the _update_by_query API to literally copy over the value into the newly mapped keyword field via a script, thereby deprecating the text one.

edited Mar 11, 2019 at 16:47

Moulde

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answered Jan 16, 2018 at 23:01

ryanlutgen

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3 Comments

or aspir Over a year ago

So let me re-explain your answer: 1. Create a new Index with the new mapping 2. Copy the data from the old index. Can I do it with one "Reindex" query?

ryanlutgen Over a year ago

1. Create new index with new mapping. 2. Copy the data from the old index to the new index via _reindex. 3. Delete the old index. 4. Recreate the old index with the new mapping. 5. Copy the data from the new index to the old index via _reindex. 6. Delete the new index. -- The "old index" (well technically a new one with the same name) will now have the updated mapping and data. Total of five API calls (two _reindexes to move the data over to new mapping, then to move it back)

or aspir Over a year ago

PLease write this comment as an answer so I can V it

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