---
title: Load the Elasticsearch index template
description: Elasticsearch uses index templates to define: Settings that control the behavior of your data stream and backing indices. The settings include the lifecycle...
url: https://www.elastic.co/docs/reference/beats/metricbeat/metricbeat-template
products:
  - Beats
  - Metricbeat
applies_to:
  - Elastic Stack: Generally available
---

# Load the Elasticsearch index template
Elasticsearch uses [index templates](https://www.elastic.co/docs/manage-data/data-store/templates) to define:
- Settings that control the behavior of your data stream and backing indices. The settings include the lifecycle policy used to manage backing indices as they grow and age.
- Mappings that determine how fields are analyzed. Each mapping sets the [Elasticsearch datatype](https://www.elastic.co/docs/reference/elasticsearch/mapping-reference/field-data-types) to use for a specific data field.

The recommended index template file for Metricbeat is installed by the Metricbeat packages. If you accept the default configuration in the `metricbeat.yml` config file, Metricbeat loads the template automatically after successfully connecting to Elasticsearch. If the template already exists, it’s not overwritten unless you configure Metricbeat to do so.
<note>
  A connection to Elasticsearch is required to load the index template. If the output is not Elasticsearch (or Elastic Cloud Hosted), you must [load the template manually](#load-template-manually).
</note>

This page shows how to change the default template loading behavior to:
- [Load your own index template](#load-custom-template)
- [Overwrite an existing index template](#overwrite-template)
- [Disable automatic index template loading](#disable-template-loading)
- [Load the index template manually](#load-template-manually)

For a full list of template setup options, see [Elasticsearch index template](https://www.elastic.co/docs/reference/beats/metricbeat/configuration-template).

## Load your own index template

To load your own index template, set the following options:
```yaml
setup.template.name: "your_template_name"
setup.template.fields: "path/to/fields.yml"
```

If the template already exists, it’s not overwritten unless you configure Metricbeat to do so.
You can load templates for both data streams and indices.

## Overwrite an existing index template

<warning>
  Do not enable this option for more than one instance of Metricbeat. If you start multiple instances at the same time, it can overload your Elasticsearch with too many template update requests.
</warning>

To overwrite a template that’s already loaded into Elasticsearch, set:
```yaml
setup.template.overwrite: true
```


## Disable automatic index template loading

You may want to disable automatic template loading if you’re using an output other than Elasticsearch and need to load the template manually. To disable automatic template loading, set:
```yaml
setup.template.enabled: false
```

If you disable automatic template loading, you must load the index template manually.

## Load the index template manually

To load the index template manually, run the [`setup`](/docs/reference/beats/metricbeat/command-line-options#setup-command) command. A connection to Elasticsearch is required.  If another output is enabled, you need to temporarily disable that output and enable Elasticsearch by using the `-E` option. The examples here assume that Logstash output is enabled. You can omit the `-E` flags if Elasticsearch output is already enabled.
If you are connecting to a secured Elasticsearch cluster, make sure you’ve configured credentials as described in the [Quick start: installation and configuration](https://www.elastic.co/docs/reference/beats/metricbeat/metricbeat-installation-configuration).
If the host running Metricbeat does not have direct connectivity to Elasticsearch, see [Load the index template manually (alternate method)](#load-template-manually-alternate).
To load the template, use the appropriate command for your system.
**deb and rpm:**
```sh
metricbeat setup --index-management -E output.logstash.enabled=false -E 'output.elasticsearch.hosts=["localhost:9200"]'
```

**mac:**
```sh
./metricbeat setup --index-management -E output.logstash.enabled=false -E 'output.elasticsearch.hosts=["localhost:9200"]'
```

**linux:**
```sh
./metricbeat setup --index-management -E output.logstash.enabled=false -E 'output.elasticsearch.hosts=["localhost:9200"]'
```

**docker:**
```sh
docker run --rm docker.elastic.co/beats/metricbeat:9.3.0 setup --index-management -E output.logstash.enabled=false -E 'output.elasticsearch.hosts=["localhost:9200"]'
```

**win:**
Open a PowerShell prompt as an Administrator (right-click the PowerShell icon and select **Run As Administrator**).
From the PowerShell prompt, change to the directory where you installed Metricbeat, and run:
```sh
PS > .\metricbeat.exe setup --index-management -E output.logstash.enabled=false -E 'output.elasticsearch.hosts=["localhost:9200"]'
```


### Force Kibana to look at newest documents

If you’ve already used Metricbeat to index data into Elasticsearch, the index may contain old documents. After you load the index template, you can delete the old documents from `metricbeat-*` to force Kibana to look at the newest documents.
Use this command:
**deb and rpm:**
```sh
curl -XDELETE 'http://localhost:9200/metricbeat-*'
```

**mac:**
```sh
curl -XDELETE 'http://localhost:9200/metricbeat-*'
```

**linux:**
```sh
curl -XDELETE 'http://localhost:9200/metricbeat-*'
```

**win:**
```sh
PS > Invoke-RestMethod -Method Delete "http://localhost:9200/metricbeat-*"
```

This command deletes all indices that match the pattern `metricbeat`. Before running this command, make sure you want to delete all indices that match the pattern.

## Load the index template manually (alternate method)

If the host running Metricbeat does not have direct connectivity to Elasticsearch, you can export the index template to a file, move it to a machine that does have connectivity, and then install the template manually.
To export the index template, run:
**deb and rpm:**
```sh
metricbeat export template > metricbeat.template.json
```

**mac:**
```sh
./metricbeat export template > metricbeat.template.json
```

**linux:**
```sh
./metricbeat export template > metricbeat.template.json
```

**win:**
```sh
PS > .\metricbeat.exe export template --es.version 9.3.0 | Out-File -Encoding UTF8 metricbeat.template.json
```

To install the template, run:
**deb and rpm:**
```sh
curl -XPUT -H 'Content-Type: application/json' http://localhost:9200/_index_template/metricbeat-9.3.0 -d@metricbeat.template.json
```

**mac:**
```sh
curl -XPUT -H 'Content-Type: application/json' http://localhost:9200/_index_template/metricbeat-9.3.0 -d@metricbeat.template.json
```

**linux:**
```sh
curl -XPUT -H 'Content-Type: application/json' http://localhost:9200/_index_template/metricbeat-9.3.0 -d@metricbeat.template.json
```

**win:**
```sh
PS > Invoke-RestMethod -Method Put -ContentType "application/json" -InFile metricbeat.template.json -Uri http://localhost:9200/_index_template/metricbeat-9.3.0
```

Once you have loaded the index template, load the data stream as well. If you do not load it, you have to give the publisher user `manage` permission on metricbeat-9.3.0 index.
**deb and rpm:**
```sh
curl -XPUT http://localhost:9200/_data_stream/metricbeat-9.3.0
```

**mac:**
```sh
curl -XPUT http://localhost:9200/_data_stream/metricbeat-9.3.0
```

**linux:**
```sh
curl -XPUT http://localhost:9200/_data_stream/metricbeat-9.3.0
```

**win:**
```sh
PS > Invoke-RestMethod -Method Put -Uri http://localhost:9200/_data_stream/metricbeat-9.3.0
```