Custom indexing template is not being applied - elasticsearch

Question

I have a project where I am to analyze and visualize access log data. I use Logstash to send data to Elasticsearch and then visualize some stuff with Kibana.
Everything has worked fine until I discovered that I needed the Path Hierarchy Analyzer to show what I want to. I now have a custom template (JSON) and changed the out section of my Logstash configuration. But when I index data, my template is not being applied.
(Version 5.2 of Elasticseach and Logstash, can't update since that is the version in use at the place where I work).
My JSON file is valid. As far as the input and filters go, my Logstash configuration is fine, too. I guess I made a mistake in the output.
I already tried setting manage_template to false. I also tried template_overwrite => "false" just for the sake of it.
I tried creating the index first (Kibana Dev Tools) and populating it after. I created the index template and then the index. That way my template was applied and when I created the index pattern, everything seemed correct. Then I indexed one of my log files. I ended up with a Courier Fetch Error. http://localhost:9200/_all/_mapping?pretty=1 showed my that while indexing my data a default template was being used instead of my custom one. Nothing was different from before adding a custom template.
I searched the web and read everything I could find on stackoverflow and in the elastic forum about custom templates not being applied. I tried out all the solutions provided there, that is why I ended up opting for a custom template saved locally and providing the path in my logstash output. But I am all out of ideas now.
This is the output of my logstash configuration:
output {
elasticsearch {
hosts => ["localhost:9200"]
template => "/etc/logstash/conf.d/template.json"
index => "beam-%{+YYYY.MM.dd}"
manage_template => "true"
template_overwrite => "true"
document_type => "beamlogs"
}
stdout {
codec => rubydebug
}
}
And this is my custom template:
{
"template": "beam_custom",
"index_patterns": "beam-*",
"order" : 5,
"settings": {
"number_of_shards": 1,
"analysis": {
"analyzer": {
"custom_path_tree": {
"tokenizer": "custom_hierarchy"
},
"custom_path_tree_reversed": {
"tokenizer": "custom_hierarchy_reversed"
}
},
"tokenizer": {
"custom_hierarchy": {
"type": "path_hierarchy",
"delimiter": "/"
},
"custom_hierarchy_reversed": {
"type": "path_hierarchy",
"delimiter": "/",
"reverse": "true"
}
}
}
},
"mappings": {
"beamlogs": {
"properties": {
"object": {
"type": "text",
"fields": {
"tree": {
"type": "text",
"analyzer": "custom_path_tree"
},
"tree_reversed": {
"type": "text",
"analyzer": "custom_path_tree_reversed"
}
}
},
"referral": {
"type": "text",
"fields": {
"tree": {
"type": "text",
"analyzer": "custom_path_tree"
},
"tree_reversed": {
"type": "text",
"analyzer": "custom_path_tree_reversed"
}
}
},
"#timestamp" : {
"type" : "date"
},
"action" : {
"type" : "text",
"fields" : {
"keyword" : {
"type" : "keyword"
}
}
},
"datetime" : {
"type" : "date",
"format": "time_no_millis",
"fields" : {
"keyword" : {
"type": "keyword"
}
}
},
"id" : {
"type" : "text",
"fields" : {
"keyword" : {
"type" : "keyword"
}
}
},
"info" : {
"type" : "text",
"fields" : {
"keyword" : {
"type" : "keyword"
}
}
},
"message" : {
"type" : "text",
"fields" : {
"keyword" : {
"type" : "keyword"
}
}
},
"page" : {
"type" : "text",
"fields" : {
"keyword" : {
"type" : "keyword"
}
}
},
"path" : {
"type" : "text",
"fields" : {
"keyword" : {
"type" : "keyword"
}
}
},
"result" : {
"type" : "long"
},
"s_direct" : {
"type" : "text",
"fields" : {
"keyword" : {
"type" : "keyword"
}
}
},
"s_limit" : {
"type" : "text",
"fields" : {
"keyword" : {
"type" : "keyword"
}
}
},
"s_mobile" : {
"type" : "text",
"fields" : {
"keyword" : {
"type" : "keyword"
}
}
},
"s_terms" : {
"type" : "text",
"fields" : {
"keyword" : {
"type" : "keyword"
}
}
},
"size" : {
"type" : "long"
},
"sort" : {
"type" : "text",
"fields" : {
"keyword" : {
"type" : "keyword"
}
}
}
}
}
}
}
After indexing my data this is part of what I get with http://localhost:9200/_all/_mapping?pretty=1
"datetime" : {
"type" : "text",
"fields" : {
"keyword" : {
"type" : "keyword",
"ignore_above" : 256
}
}
},
"object" : {
"type" : "text",
"fields" : {
"keyword" : {
"type" : "keyword",
"ignore_above" : 256
}
}
},
datetime should not have the type text. But worse than that, fields like objet.tree are not even created.
I really don't care about the wrong mapping for datetime, but I need to get the Path Hierarchy Analyzer to work. I just don't know what to do anymore.
So. What I just tried was creating the index template in Kibana.
PUT _template/beam_custom
/followed by what is in my template.json
I then checked if the template was created.
GET _template/beam_custom
The output was this:
{
"beam_custom": {
"order": 100,
"template": "beam_custom",
"settings": {
"index": {
"analysis": {
"analyzer": {
"custom_path_tree_reversed": {
"tokenizer": "custom_hierarchy_reversed"
},
"custom_path_tree": {
"tokenizer": "custom_hierarchy"
}
},
"tokenizer": {
"custom_hierarchy": {
"type": "path_hierarchy",
"delimiter": "/"
},
...
So I guess creating the template worked.
Then I created an index
PUT beam-2019-07-15
But when I checked the index, I got this:
{
"beam-2019.07.15": {
"aliases": {},
"mappings": {},
"settings": {
"index": {
"creation_date": "1563044670605",
"number_of_shards": "5",
"number_of_replicas": "1",
"uuid": "rGzplctSQDmrI_NSlt47hQ",
"version": {
"created": "5061699"
},
"provided_name": "beam-2019.07.15"
}
}
}
}
Shouldn't the index pattern have been recognized? I think this is the heart of the problem. I thought that my template would have been used and the output should have been something like this instead:
{
"beam-2019.07.15": {
"aliases": {},
"mappings": {
"logs": {
"properties": {
"#timestamp": {
"type": "date"
},
"action": {
"type": "text",
"fields": {
"keyword": {
"type": "keyword"
}
}
},...
Why doesn't it recognize the pattern?

Answer 1

So, I found the mistake.
When I looked up how to build my own template, at some point I looked at the documentation for the current version. But in 5.2., "index_patterns =>" doesn't exist.
"template": "beam_custom",
"index_patterns": "beam-*",
This doesn't work then, of course.
Instead, I dropped the "index_patterns" line and defined my pattern in the template-parameter.
"template": ["beam-*"],
//rest
This fixed the problem. After that, my pattern was recognized.
Yet I am facing a different problem now. The Path Hierarchy Analyzer is not working properly. object.tree and the rest of the fields I want are not being created.
GET beam-*/_search
{
"query": {
"term": {
"object.tree": "/belletristik/"
}
}
}
yields nothing, though I should have a few hundred hits. Looking at my data, there are no analyzed fields for my paths. Any ideas?