=== Creating an Index

Until now, we have created a new index((("indices", "creating"))) by simply indexing a document into it. The index is created with the default settings, and new fields are added to the type mapping by using dynamic mapping. Now we need more control over the process: we want to ensure that the index has been created with the appropriate number of primary shards, and that analyzers and mappings are set up before we index any data.

To do this, we have to create the index manually, passing in any settings or type mappings in the request body, as follows:

[source,js]

PUT /my_index { "settings": { ... any settings ... }, "mappings": { "type_one": { ... any mappings ... }, "type_two": { ... any mappings ... }, ... }

}

In fact, if you want to, you ((("indices", "preventing automatic creation of")))can prevent the automatic creation of indices by adding the following setting to the config/elasticsearch.yml file on each node:

[source,js]

action.auto_create_index: false

[NOTE]

Later, we discuss how you can use <> to preconfigure automatically created indices. This is particularly useful when indexing log data: you log into an index whose name includes the date and, as midnight rolls over, a new properly configured index automatically springs into

existence.

=== Deleting an Index

To delete an index, use ((("HTTP methods", "DELETE")))((("DELETE method", "deleting indices")))((("indices", "deleting")))the following request:

[source,js]

DELETE /my_index

You can delete multiple indices with this:

[source,js]

DELETE /index_one,index_two

DELETE /index_*

You can even delete all indices with this:

[source,js]

DELETE /_all