Before you begin reading this guide, we recommend you run Elasticsearch Error Check-Up which can resolve issues that cause many errors.
This guide will help you check for common problems that cause the log ” Templates were partially upgraded to version ” to appear. It’s important to understand the issues related to the log, so to get started, read the general overview on common issues and tips related to the Elasticsearch concepts: cluster, metadata, template, upgrade and version.
Advanced users might want to skip right to the common problems section in each concept or try running the Check-Up which analyses ES to pinpoint the cause of many errors and provides suitable actionable recommendations how to resolve them (free tool that requires no installation).
Overview
Metadata in Elasticsearch refers to additional information stored for each document. This is achieved using the specific metadata fields available in Elasticsearch. The default behavior of some of these metadata fields can be customized during mapping creation.
Examples
Using _meta meta-field for storing application-specific information with the mapping:
PUT /my_index?pretty { "mappings": { "_meta": { "domain": "security", "release_information": { "date": "18-01-2020", "version": "7.5" } } } }
Notes
- In version 2.x, Elasticsearch had a total 13 meta fields available, which are: _index, _uid, _type, _id, _source, _size, _all, _field_names, _timestamp, _ttl, _parent, _routing, _meta
- In version 5.x, _timestamp and _ttl meta fields were removed.
- In version 6.x, the _parent meta field was removed.
- In version 7.x, _uid and _all meta fields were removed.
Overview
A template in Elasticsearch falls into one of the two following categories and is indexed inside Elasticsearch using its dedicated endpoint:
- Index templates, which are a way to define a set of rules including index settings, mappings and an index pattern. The template is applied automatically whenever a new index is created with the matching pattern. Templates are also used to dynamically apply custom mapping for the fields which are not predefined inside existing mapping.
- Search templates, which help in defining templates for search queries using mustache scripting language. These templates act as a placeholder for variables defined inside the search queries.
Examples
Create a dynamic index template
PUT /_template/template_1?pretty { "index_patterns": [ "logs*", "api*" ], "settings": { "number_of_shards": 2 }, "mappings": { "dynamic_templates": [ { "strings": { "match_mapping_type": "string", "mapping": { "type": "keyword" } } } ], "properties": { "host_name": { "type": "keyword" }, "created_at": { "type": "date" } } } }
Create a search template
POST /_scripts/search_template_1?pretty { "script": { "lang": "mustache", "source": { "query": { "match": { "description": "{{query_string}}" } } } } }
Executing a search query using search template
GET /_search/template?pretty { "id": "search_template_1", "params": { "query_string": "hello world" } }
The search request will be executed by default on all the indices available in the cluster and can be limited to particular indices using an index parameter.
Notes
- A dynamic index template is always useful when you do not know the field names in advance and want to control their mapping as per the business use case.
Log Context
Log “Templates were partially upgraded to version {}” classname is TemplateUpgradeService.java
We extracted the following from Elasticsearch source code for those seeking an in-depth context :
assert upgradesInProgress.get() > 0; if (upgradesInProgress.decrementAndGet() == 1) { try { // this is the last upgrade; the templates should now be in the desired state if (anyUpgradeFailed.get()) { logger.info("Templates were partially upgraded to version {}"; Version.CURRENT); } else { logger.info("Templates were upgraded successfully to version {}"; Version.CURRENT); } // Check upgraders are satisfied after the update completed. If they still // report that changes are required; this might indicate a bug or that something
Run the Check-Up to get customized recommendations like this:

Heavy merges detected in specific nodes

Description
A large number of small shards can slow down searches and cause cluster instability. Some indices have shards that are too small…

Recommendations Based on your specific ES deployment you should…
Based on your specific ES deployment you should…
X-PUT curl -H [a customized code snippet to resolve the issue]