---
title: Purging data from Elasticsearch
description: To manage storage on the Dashboard server, you can either archive or purge Elasticsearch data.
component: pingintelligence
version: 5.2
page_id: pingintelligence:pingintelligence_reference_guide:pingintelligence_purge_data_elasticsearch
canonical_url: https://docs.pingidentity.com/pingintelligence/5.2/pingintelligence_reference_guide/pingintelligence_purge_data_elasticsearch.html
revdate: April 3, 2024
section_ids:
  about-this-task: About this task
  steps: Steps
  example: Example:
  example-2: Example:
  result: Result:
---

# Purging data from Elasticsearch

To manage storage on the Dashboard server, you can either archive or purge Elasticsearch data.

## About this task

PingIntelligence provides a purge script to remove older Elasticsearch data.

|   |                                                                                                                                                                                                              |
| - | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
|   | When the purge script is run, all files are permanently deleted from the Elasticsearch data directory. Hence it is recommended to make a backup of Elasticsearch documents before proceeding with the purge. |

## Steps

1. Run the purge script on the Dashboard engine command line.

   The number of days specified should be between 1-365 days.

   ```
   /opt/pingidentity/dashboard/util/purge_elasticsearch.sh -d 3
   ```

   ### Example:

   In the following example, `purge_elasticsearch.sh` deletes all files older than 3 days. Below is a sample output:

   ```
   /opt/pingidentity/dashboard/util/purge_elasticsearch.sh -d 3
   This will delete the data in elastic search which is older than 3 days.
   Are You sure(yes/no):yes
   2017-04-17 11:13:07 INFO Starting purge with options, days : 3 path : /opt/poc/pingidentity/dashboard/config/dashboard.properties
   ```

2. To delete all data and Elasticsearch templates, use the following:

   ```shell
   curl -s https://<elasticsearch_ip_address>:<port>/_all -X DELETE -u elastic
   ```

   ### Example:

   The following example illustrates deletion of Elasticsearch records older than 15 days. The `Number of Records Purged : null` is an expected message due to the time lag in actual deletion.

   ```
   [xxxxxxxxx@T5-03 dashboard]$ ./util/purge_elasticsearch.sh -d 15
   This will delete the data in elasticsearch cluster which are older than 15 days.
   Are You sure(yes/no):yes
   Starting Elasticsearch purge
   2020-04-09 03:16:44 INFO   Starting purge with options, days : 15 path : /home/xxxxxxxx/pingidentity/dashboard/config/dashboard.properties
   2020-04-09 03:16:45 INFO   API's Loaded from elasticsearch : [app54, app58, app63, app8, app2, app3, app66, app74, app79, app77]
   2020-04-09 03:16:45 INFO   Purging data for global indice activity-api
   2020-04-09 03:16:45 INFO   Number of Records Purged :  null
   2020-04-09 03:16:45 INFO   Purging data for global indice activity-api-key
   2020-04-09 03:16:45 INFO   Number of Records Purged :  null
   2020-04-09 03:16:45 INFO   Purging data for global indice activity-token
   2020-04-09 03:16:45 INFO   Number of Records Purged :  null
   .
   .
   ```

   ### Result:

   When you use the `-X DELETE` option, the system goes back to a fresh installation state.

   |   |                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    |
   | - | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
   |   | Purge for Elasticsearch runs in the background. Documents are not deleted immediately after `purge_elasticsearch.sh` execution. Elasticsearch deletes purged documents with a lag of 5 minutes. It is recommended to run `purge_elasticsearch.sh` during lean API traffic periods. |