diff --git a/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/monitoring/exporter/http/BackwardsCompatibilityAliasesResource.java b/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/monitoring/exporter/http/BackwardsCompatibilityAliasesResource.java
index 471b3ee4854..e251ac70757 100644
--- a/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/monitoring/exporter/http/BackwardsCompatibilityAliasesResource.java
+++ b/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/monitoring/exporter/http/BackwardsCompatibilityAliasesResource.java
@@ -60,7 +60,8 @@ public class BackwardsCompatibilityAliasesResource extends HttpResource {
                 request.startObject().startArray("actions");
                 for (Map.Entry<String, Object> e : indices.entrySet()) {
                     String index = e.getKey();
-                    String alias = ".monitoring-es-2-" + index.substring(".marvel-es-1-".length());
+                    // we add a suffix so that it will not collide with today's monitoring index following an upgrade
+                    String alias = ".monitoring-es-2-" + index.substring(".marvel-es-1-".length()) + "-alias";
                     if (false == aliasesForIndex(e.getValue()).contains(alias)) {
                         needNewAliases = true;
                         addAlias(request, index, alias);
diff --git a/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/monitoring/exporter/local/LocalExporter.java b/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/monitoring/exporter/local/LocalExporter.java
index 4c113ea4c99..76e23d01755 100644
--- a/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/monitoring/exporter/local/LocalExporter.java
+++ b/elasticsearch/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/monitoring/exporter/local/LocalExporter.java
@@ -397,7 +397,8 @@ public class LocalExporter extends Exporter implements ClusterStateListener, Cle
         for (IndexMetaData index : clusterState.metaData()) {
             String name = index.getIndex().getName();
             if (name.startsWith(".marvel-es-1-")) {
-                String alias = ".monitoring-es-2-" + name.substring(".marvel-es-1-".length());
+                // we add a suffix so that it will not collide with today's monitoring index following an upgrade
+                String alias = ".monitoring-es-2-" + name.substring(".marvel-es-1-".length()) + "-alias";
                 if (index.getAliases().containsKey(alias)) continue;
                 if (request == null) {
                     request = new IndicesAliasesRequest();
diff --git a/elasticsearch/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/monitoring/exporter/http/HttpExporterIT.java b/elasticsearch/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/monitoring/exporter/http/HttpExporterIT.java
index 06cdc1c8828..ba9f1e796b7 100644
--- a/elasticsearch/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/monitoring/exporter/http/HttpExporterIT.java
+++ b/elasticsearch/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/xpack/monitoring/exporter/http/HttpExporterIT.java
@@ -12,7 +12,6 @@ import com.squareup.okhttp.mockwebserver.MockWebServer;
 import com.squareup.okhttp.mockwebserver.RecordedRequest;
 
 import org.elasticsearch.Version;
-import org.elasticsearch.action.ActionRequest;
 import org.elasticsearch.action.DocWriteRequest;
 import org.elasticsearch.action.admin.indices.recovery.RecoveryResponse;
 import org.elasticsearch.action.bulk.BulkRequest;
@@ -606,7 +605,7 @@ public class HttpExporterIT extends MonitoringIntegTestCase {
         if (bwcIndexesExist) {
             int timestampIndexes = between(1, 100);
             for (int i = 0; i < timestampIndexes; i++) {
-                writeIndex(response, ".marvel-es-1-" + i, bwcAliasesExist ? ".monitoring-es-2-" + i : "ignored");
+                writeIndex(response, ".marvel-es-1-" + i, bwcAliasesExist ? ".monitoring-es-2-" + i + "-alias" : "ignored");
             }
         }
         response.endObject();