-->

Start and stop index lifecycle management

All indices that are managed by ILM will continue to execute their policies. There may be times when this is not desired on certain indices, or maybe even all the indices in a cluster. For example, maybe there are scheduled maintenance windows when cluster topology changes are desired that may impact running ILM actions. For this reason, ILM has two ways to disable operations.

Normally, ILM will be running by default. To see the current operating status of ILM, use the Get Status API to see the current state of ILM.

GET _ilm/status

If the request does not encounter errors, you receive the following result:

{
  "operation_mode": "RUNNING"
}

The operating modes of ILM:

Table 68. ILM Operating Modes

Name Description

RUNNING

Normal operation where all policies are executed as normal

STOPPING

ILM has received a request to stop but is still processing some policies

STOPPED

This represents a state where no policies are executed


Stopping ILM=

The ILM service can be paused such that no further steps will be executed using the Stop API.

POST _ilm/stop

When stopped, all further policy actions will be halted. This will be reflected in the Status API

{
  "operation_mode": "STOPPING"
}

The ILM service will then, asynchronously, run all policies to a point where it is safe to stop. After ILM verifies that it is safe, it will move to the STOPPED mode.

{
  "operation_mode": "STOPPED"
}

Starting ILM

To start ILM and continue executing policies, use the Start API.

POST _ilm/start

The Start API will send a request to the ILM service to immediately begin normal operations.

{
  "operation_mode": "RUNNING"
}