Rework data migration docs and add reindex to Serverless steps by kilfoyle · Pull Request #4914 · elastic/docs-content

kilfoyle · 2026-01-30T15:52:13Z

Please see the newer version of this PR: Rework migrate data docs (Take 2)

This PR:

Tries to improve the organization of the Migrate your Elasticsearch data docs section~~
Adds a new page Migrate Elastic Cloud Hosted data to Serverless with the reindex API.
@PeteGillinElastic @pete-naylor I'd appreciate if either of you can review the reindex from remote examples. Please let me know if I've missed anything.
Adds a new Migrate your Elasticsearch data landing page to include a list of data types, migration methods, and links to the appropriate docs for each approach.

Closes: #4353
Rel: https://github.com/elastic/docs-team/issues/30
Rel: https://github.com/elastic/docs-content-internal/issues/467

github-actions · 2026-01-30T16:20:46Z

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PeteGillinElastic

Thanks! A few thoughts below.

manage-data/migrate/migrate-with-reindex-api.md

PeteGillinElastic · 2026-02-06T18:21:41Z

manage-data/migrate/migrate-with-reindex-api.md

+
+:::{important} 
+Kibana assets must be migrated separately using the {{kib}} [export/import APIs](https://www.elastic.co/docs/api/doc/kibana/group/endpoint-saved-objects) or recreated manually.
+Templates, data stream definitions, and ILM policies, must be in place _before_ you start data migration. 


There's an important wrinkle here. You do want your templates set up with things like the correct index mappings and most other index settings. But a lot of the time you do not want your ingest pipelines in place before you reindex. The reason being that the data will have been run through whatever pipeline is in place in ECH when it was ingested there, and (unless it happens to be idempotent) you don't want to run it through the same pipeline a second time in serverless.

This is potentially an awkward thing from an ergonomics perspective. I think that @pete-naylor has thought more about how to handle it smoothly than I have, so I'll defer to him.

Of course, if you are going to be switching the thing that was previously writing into ECH to write into serverless instead, you presumably do want the ingest pipelines in place before you start doing that...

Thanks for catching that @PeteGillinElastic! I rephrased the warning to try and catch the nuance about ingest pipelines.

Not really related to this, but I've also expanded the parent Migrate your Elasticsearch data landing page to summarize the different data types and migration methods, so maybe that'll help.

manage-data/migrate.md

manage-data/migrate/migrate-to-serverless.md

kilfoyle · 2026-02-12T20:49:25Z

@shainaraskas and @eedugon Thanks very much for your feedback! Edu, the detail you provided about the various data types is super helpful so I've incorporated that into the main Migrate your Elasticsearch data page.

eedugon · 2026-02-13T12:48:42Z

@shainaraskas and @eedugon Thanks very much for your feedback! Edu, the detail you provided about the various data types is super helpful so I've incorporated that into the main Migrate your Elasticsearch data page.

Wow, the new content feels really awesome, that's exactly what was missing! It would be great if we get some review by product experts to ensure everything is technically accurate.

I'll review and share some comments soon.

manage-data/migrate.md

ppf2 · 2026-02-18T23:29:10Z

Here's a suggestion for an alternate format:

We can create pages for each migration method: Reindex from remote, Logstash and snapshot/restore.
Then create from-to tables like the following which links to the documentation page for these methods.

For example, for the "To Serverless" scenario, currently the only supported From for reindex from remote is Hosted:

From	To	Supported Methods
Hosted	Serverless	Reindex from remote*, Logstash
ECE	Serverless	Logstash
ECK	Serverless	Logstash
Serverless	Serverless	Logstash

*Technical Preview

kilfoyle · 2026-02-19T19:03:18Z

@ppf2 I can try what you suggest. To start, I'd need to verify that the tables are correct and exhaustive.

Would you be able confirm if these are right? Or would you have an idea who best to ask?

I do worry that these tables would over-complicate things a bit. The reason for the current page organization is that it imitates how we organize the "Deploy" section, but I'm open to changing that.

To Elastic Cloud Hosted:

From	To	Supported Methods
ECH	ECH	reindex from remote, restore from snapshot, Logstash
ECE	ECH	reindex from remote, restore from snapshot, Logstash
ECK	ECH	reindex from remote, restore from snapshot, Logstash
Serverless	ECH	reindex from remote, Logstash
Self-managed	ECH	reindex from remote*, restore from snapshot, Logstash

also Reindex from a Self-managed cluster using a private CA

To Elastic Cloud Enterprise:

From	To	Supported Methods
ECH	ECE	reindex from remote, restore from snapshot, Logstash
ECE	ECE	reindex from remote, restore from snapshot, Logstash
ECK	ECE	reindex from remote, restore from snapshot, Logstash
Serverless	ECE	Logstash
Self-managed	ECE	reindex from remote, restore from snapshot, Logstash

To Elastic Cloud on Kubernetes:

From	To	Supported Methods
ECH	ECK	reindex from remote, restore from snapshot, Logstash
ECE	ECK	reindex from remote, restore from snapshot, Logstash
ECK	ECK	reindex from remote, restore from snapshot, Logstash
Serverless	ECK	reindex from remote, Logstash
Self-managed	ECK	reindex from remote, restore from snapshot, Logstash

To Elastic Cloud Serverless:

From	To	Supported Methods
ECH	Serverless	reindex from remote*, Logstash
ECE	Serverless	Logstash
ECK	Serverless	Logstash
Serverless	Serverless	Logstash
Self-managed	Serverless	not currently supported

Technical preview starting in 9.3

To Elastic Self-managed:

From	To	Supported Methods
ECH	Self-managed	reindex from remote, restore from snapshot, Logstash
ECE	Self-managed	reindex from remote, restore from snapshot, Logstash
ECK	Self-managed	reindex from remote, restore from snapshot, Logstash
Serverless	Self-managed	reindex from remote, Logstash
Self-managed	Self-managed	reindex from remote, restore from snapshot, Logstash

kilfoyle · 2026-02-20T20:10:13Z

@ppf2 I've opened a new PR that follows your suggestion of having a single page for each migration method:

Rework migrate data docs (Take 2)

I think it could work nicely.

eedugon · 2026-02-24T19:26:07Z

@kilfoyle : the serverless row in one of these blocks is probably incorrect:

Whatever is the right value should probably be the same in both cases.

And in this block I have a question:

How is it possible to support using Logstash to send data from ECE or ECK to Serverless but not from a self-managed cluster to Serverless? I'm tempted to say that has to be a mistake, as technically speaking, an ECK or ECE Elasticsearch cluster is the same as a self-managed cluster: they run on self-managed infrastructure, and all of them have HTTP endpoints controlled and created by the user.

eedugon

small comment added, sorry I haven't been able to review the entire PR again. If needed please let me know!! :)

manage-data/migrate/migrate-with-reindex-api.md

kilfoyle · 2026-02-26T19:41:43Z

Thanks @edu! I've added your suggestions in the new PR.

I'll close this PR in favour of the new one: #5244

kilfoyle added 3 commits January 29, 2026 18:13

Rework data migration docs

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kilfoyle and others added 2 commits February 5, 2026 16:14

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Merge branch 'main' into 4353/rework-ech2ess-mig

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kilfoyle changed the title ~~DRAFT ONLY: Rework data migration docs~~ Rework data migration docs and add reindex to Serverless steps Feb 6, 2026

kilfoyle requested review from PeteGillinElastic and pete-naylor February 6, 2026 18:06

kilfoyle marked this pull request as ready for review February 6, 2026 18:06

kilfoyle requested a review from a team as a code owner February 6, 2026 18:06

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Remove multiple indices and basic auth examples

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kilfoyle added 2 commits February 10, 2026 16:17

Fill out main 'migrate' page, etc.

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kilfoyle mentioned this pull request Feb 20, 2026

Rework migrate data docs (Take 2) #5244

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