Better handling of /_all/_search when no indices exist

closes #3710

src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/search/type/TransportSearchTypeAction.java

@@ -42,11 +42,11 @@ import org.elasticsearch.search.SearchShardTarget;
 import org.elasticsearch.search.action.SearchServiceListener;
 import org.elasticsearch.search.action.SearchServiceTransportAction;
 import org.elasticsearch.search.controller.SearchPhaseController;
+import org.elasticsearch.search.internal.InternalSearchResponse;
 import org.elasticsearch.search.internal.ShardSearchRequest;
 import org.elasticsearch.search.query.QuerySearchResultProvider;
 import org.elasticsearch.threadpool.ThreadPool;
 
-import java.util.Arrays;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Map;
 import java.util.Set;
@@ -119,15 +119,15 @@ public abstract class TransportSearchTypeAction extends TransportAction<SearchRe
             // we need to add 1 for non active partition, since we count it in the total!
             expectedTotalOps = shardsIts.totalSizeWith1ForEmpty();
 
-            if (expectedSuccessfulOps == 0) {
-                // not search shards to search on...
-                throw new SearchPhaseExecutionException("initial", "No indices / shards to search on, requested indices are " + Arrays.toString(request.indices()), buildShardFailures());
-            }
-
             firstResults = new AtomicArray<FirstResult>(shardsIts.size());
         }
 
         public void start() {
+            if (expectedSuccessfulOps == 0) {
+                // no search shards to search on, bail with empty response (it happens with search across _all with no indices around and consistent with broadcast operations)
+                listener.onResponse(new SearchResponse(InternalSearchResponse.EMPTY, null, 0, 0, System.currentTimeMillis() - startTime, ShardSearchFailure.EMPTY_ARRAY));
+                return;
+            }
             request.beforeStart();
             // count the local operations, and perform the non local ones
             int localOperations = 0;

src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/search/indicesboost/SimpleIndicesBoostSearchTests.java

@@ -19,19 +19,19 @@
 
 package org.elasticsearch.search.indicesboost;
 
+import org.elasticsearch.AbstractSharedClusterTest;
 import org.elasticsearch.action.search.SearchResponse;
 import org.elasticsearch.action.search.SearchType;
 import org.elasticsearch.cluster.metadata.IndexMetaData;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.ImmutableSettings;
 import org.elasticsearch.common.settings.Settings;
-import org.elasticsearch.AbstractSharedClusterTest;
+import org.elasticsearch.test.hamcrest.ElasticsearchAssertions;
 import org.junit.Test;
 
 import static org.elasticsearch.client.Requests.*;
 import static org.elasticsearch.common.xcontent.XContentFactory.jsonBuilder;
 import static org.elasticsearch.index.query.QueryBuilders.termQuery;
 import static org.elasticsearch.search.builder.SearchSourceBuilder.searchSource;
-import static org.hamcrest.MatcherAssert.assertThat;
 import static org.hamcrest.Matchers.equalTo;
 
 /**
@@ -46,13 +46,7 @@ public class SimpleIndicesBoostSearchTests extends AbstractSharedClusterTest {
 
     @Test
     public void testIndicesBoost() throws Exception {
-        // execute a search before we create an index
+        ElasticsearchAssertions.assertHitCount(client().prepareSearch().setQuery(termQuery("test", "value")).get(), 0);
-        try {
-            client().prepareSearch().setQuery(termQuery("test", "value")).execute().actionGet();
-            assert false : "should fail";
-        } catch (Exception e) {
-            // ignore, no indices
-        }
 
         try {
             client().prepareSearch("test").setQuery(termQuery("test", "value")).execute().actionGet();