---
layout: default
title: ISM API
parent: Index State Management
nav_order: 20
---

# ISM API

Use the index state management operations to programmatically work with policies and managed indices.

---

#### Table of contents
- TOC
{:toc}


---


## Create policy
Introduced 1.0
{: .label .label-purple }

Creates a policy.

#### Request

```json
PUT _plugins/_ism/policies/policy_1
{
  "policy": {
    "description": "ingesting logs",
    "default_state": "ingest",
    "states": [
      {
        "name": "ingest",
        "actions": [
          {
            "rollover": {
              "min_doc_count": 5
            }
          }
        ],
        "transitions": [
          {
            "state_name": "search"
          }
        ]
      },
      {
        "name": "search",
        "actions": [],
        "transitions": [
          {
            "state_name": "delete",
            "conditions": {
              "min_index_age": "5m"
            }
          }
        ]
      },
      {
        "name": "delete",
        "actions": [
          {
            "delete": {}
          }
        ],
        "transitions": []
      }
    ]
  }
}
```


#### Sample response

```json
{
  "_id": "policy_1",
  "_version": 1,
  "_primary_term": 1,
  "_seq_no": 7,
  "policy": {
    "policy": {
      "policy_id": "policy_1",
      "description": "ingesting logs",
      "last_updated_time": 1577990761311,
      "schema_version": 1,
      "error_notification": null,
      "default_state": "ingest",
      "states": [
        {
          "name": "ingest",
          "actions": [
            {
              "rollover": {
                "min_doc_count": 5
              }
            }
          ],
          "transitions": [
            {
              "state_name": "search"
            }
          ]
        },
        {
          "name": "search",
          "actions": [],
          "transitions": [
            {
              "state_name": "delete",
              "conditions": {
                "min_index_age": "5m"
              }
            }
          ]
        },
        {
          "name": "delete",
          "actions": [
            {
              "delete": {}
            }
          ],
          "transitions": []
        }
      ]
    }
  }
}
```


---

## Add policy
Introduced 1.0
{: .label .label-purple }

Adds a policy to an index. This operation does not change the policy if the index already has one.

#### Request

```json
POST _plugins/_ism/add/index_1
{
  "policy_id": "policy_1"
}
```

#### Sample response

```json
{
  "updated_indices": 1,
  "failures": false,
  "failed_indices": []
}
```

If you use a wildcard `*` while adding a policy to an index, the ISM plugin interprets `*` as all indices, including system indices like `.opendistro-security`, which stores users, roles, and tenants. A delete action in your policy might accidentally delete all user roles and tenants in your cluster.
Don't use the broad `*` wildcard, and instead add a prefix, such as `my-logs*`, when specifying indices with the `_ism/add` API.
{: .warning }

---


## Update policy
Introduced 1.0
{: .label .label-purple }

Updates a policy. Use the `seq_no` and `primary_term` parameters to update an existing policy. If these numbers don't match the existing policy or the policy doesn't exist, ISM throws an error.

#### Request

```json
PUT _plugins/_ism/policies/policy_1?if_seq_no=7&if_primary_term=1
{
  "policy": {
    "description": "ingesting logs",
    "default_state": "ingest",
    "states": [
      {
        "name": "ingest",
        "actions": [
          {
            "rollover": {
              "min_doc_count": 5
            }
          }
        ],
        "transitions": [
          {
            "state_name": "search"
          }
        ]
      },
      {
        "name": "search",
        "actions": [],
        "transitions": [
          {
            "state_name": "delete",
            "conditions": {
              "min_index_age": "5m"
            }
          }
        ]
      },
      {
        "name": "delete",
        "actions": [
          {
            "delete": {}
          }
        ],
        "transitions": []
      }
    ]
  }
}
```


#### Sample response

```json
{
  "_id": "policy_1",
  "_version": 2,
  "_primary_term": 1,
  "_seq_no": 10,
  "policy": {
    "policy": {
      "policy_id": "policy_1",
      "description": "ingesting logs",
      "last_updated_time": 1577990934044,
      "schema_version": 1,
      "error_notification": null,
      "default_state": "ingest",
      "states": [
        {
          "name": "ingest",
          "actions": [
            {
              "rollover": {
                "min_doc_count": 5
              }
            }
          ],
          "transitions": [
            {
              "state_name": "search"
            }
          ]
        },
        {
          "name": "search",
          "actions": [],
          "transitions": [
            {
              "state_name": "delete",
              "conditions": {
                "min_index_age": "5m"
              }
            }
          ]
        },
        {
          "name": "delete",
          "actions": [
            {
              "delete": {}
            }
          ],
          "transitions": []
        }
      ]
    }
  }
}
```


---

## Get policy
Introduced 1.0
{: .label .label-purple }

Gets the policy by `policy_id`.

#### Request

```json
GET _plugins/_ism/policies/policy_1
```


#### Sample response

```json
{
  "_id": "policy_1",
  "_version": 2,
  "_seq_no": 10,
  "_primary_term": 1,
  "policy": {
    "policy_id": "policy_1",
    "description": "ingesting logs",
    "last_updated_time": 1577990934044,
    "schema_version": 1,
    "error_notification": null,
    "default_state": "ingest",
    "states": [
      {
        "name": "ingest",
        "actions": [
          {
            "rollover": {
              "min_doc_count": 5
            }
          }
        ],
        "transitions": [
          {
            "state_name": "search"
          }
        ]
      },
      {
        "name": "search",
        "actions": [],
        "transitions": [
          {
            "state_name": "delete",
            "conditions": {
              "min_index_age": "5m"
            }
          }
        ]
      },
      {
        "name": "delete",
        "actions": [
          {
            "delete": {}
          }
        ],
        "transitions": []
      }
    ]
  }
}
```

---

## Remove policy from index
Introduced 1.0
{: .label .label-purple }

Removes any ISM policy from the index.

#### Request

```json
POST _plugins/_ism/remove/index_1
```


#### Sample response

```json
{
  "updated_indices": 1,
  "failures": false,
  "failed_indices": []
}
```

---

## Update managed index policy
Introduced 1.0
{: .label .label-purple }

Updates the managed index policy to a new policy (or to a new version of the policy). You can use an index pattern to update multiple indices at once. When updating multiple indices, you might want to include a state filter to only affect certain managed indices. The change policy filters out all the existing managed indices and only applies the change to the ones in the state that you specify. You can also explicitly specify the state that the managed index transitions to after the change policy takes effect.

A policy change is an asynchronous background process. The changes are queued and are not executed immediately by the background process. This delay in execution protects the currently running managed indices from being put into a broken state. If the policy you are changing to has only some small configuration changes, then the change takes place immediately. For example, if the policy changes the `min_index_age` parameter in a rollover condition from `1000d` to `100d`, this change takes place immediately in its next execution. If the change modifies the state, actions, or the order of actions of the current state the index is in, then the change happens at the end of its current state before transitioning to a new state.

In this example, the policy applied on the `index_1` index is changed to `policy_1`, which could either be a completely new policy or an updated version of its existing policy. The process only applies the change if the index is currently in the `searches` state. After this change in policy takes place, `index_1` transitions to the `delete` state.

#### Request

```json
POST _plugins/_ism/change_policy/index_1
{
  "policy_id": "policy_1",
  "state": "delete",
  "include": [
    {
      "state": "searches"
    }
  ]
}
```


#### Sample response

```json
{
  "updated_indices": 0,
  "failures": false,
  "failed_indices": []
}
```

---

## Retry failed index
Introduced 1.0
{: .label .label-purple }

Retries the failed action for an index. For the retry call to succeed, ISM must manage the index, and the index must be in a failed state. You can use index patterns (`*`) to retry multiple failed indices.

#### Request

```json
POST _plugins/_ism/retry/index_1
{
  "state": "delete"
}
```


#### Sample response

```json
{
  "updated_indices": 0,
  "failures": false,
  "failed_indices": []
}
```

---

## Explain index
Introduced 1.0
{: .label .label-purple }

Gets the current state of the index. You can use index patterns to get the status of multiple indices.

#### Request

```json
GET _plugins/_ism/explain/index_1
```


#### Sample response

```json
{
  "index_1": {
    "index.plugins.index_state_management.policy_id": "policy_1"
  }
}
```

The `plugins.index_state_management.policy_id` setting is deprecated starting from ODFE version 1.13.0. We retain this field in the response API for consistency.

---

## Delete policy
Introduced 1.0
{: .label .label-purple }

Deletes the policy by `policy_id`.

#### Request

```json
DELETE _plugins/_ism/policies/policy_1
```


#### Sample response

```json
{
  "_index": ".opendistro-ism-config",
  "_type": "_doc",
  "_id": "policy_1",
  "_version": 3,
  "result": "deleted",
  "forced_refresh": true,
  "_shards": {
    "total": 2,
    "successful": 2,
    "failed": 0
  },
  "_seq_no": 15,
  "_primary_term": 1
}
```
