Title: Version with Enterprise Search Author: WordPress VIP Documentation Published: August 31, 2021 Last modified: July 22, 2025 --- 1. [Enterprise Search](https://docs.wpvip.com/enterprise-search/) 2. Version with Enterprise Search # Version with Enterprise Search Versioning makes it possible to perform a reindex of an Elasticsearch index without needing to drop the current index. Before activating the new version of an index, steps should be taken to ensure that it is healthy. Versioning is necessary to bring a database and its Elasticsearch index back into sync if: * The database is modified outside of normal WordPress functionality (i.e. database imports, bulk CLI commands that disable the hooks by setting `WP_IMPORTING` to true, or direct SQL queries that modify data). * [Search tokenization](https://docs.wpvip.com/vip-search/search-tokenization/) filter settings have been added or modified. **VIP-CLI command examples** For demonstration purposes, the `` value `example-app` and the `` value `develop` are used in the VIP-CLI command examples below. Read more about [how to target environments in VIP-CLI commands](https://docs.wpvip.com/vip-cli/target-environments/). ## 1. Register a new index `wp vip-search index-versions add post` will create a new index for `post` content( this will also work with other Indexables such as `term`). The response will include the version number added. In this example, the newly created index is version `2`: ```wp-block-preformatted $ vip @example-app.develop -- wp vip-search index-versions add post Success: Registered and created new index version 2 ``` A new index version has been added and created (with mapping) on Elasticsearch.  The current active version will continue to receive incremental changes. This step does not do any bulk indexing of content, but it _will_ start the indexing of incremental changes to the new version. ## 2. Build the new index Build the new index alongside the current one. The larger a database is, the longer the amount of time it will take for this process to complete. In the command, specify a [version](https://docs.wpvip.com/vip-search/index-with-vip-search/#h-version): ```wp-block-preformatted $ vip @example-app.develop -- wp vip-search index --indexables="post" --version="next" Indexing posts... Processed 500/37674. Last Object ID: 37550 Processed 1000/37674. Last Object ID: 37050 Processed 1500/37674. Last Object ID: 36550 ... Processed 37674/37674. Last Object ID: 1 Number of posts indexed: 37674 Total time elapsed: 492.615 Success: Done! ``` ## 3. Health check Check the status of both the current index and the next index: ```wp-block-preformatted $ vip @example-app.develop -- wp vip-search health validate-counts Validating post count ✅ no inconsistencies found when counting entity: post, type: post, index_version: 1 - (DB: 37498, ES: 37498, Diff: 0) ✅ no inconsistencies found when counting entity: post, type: page, index_version: 1 - (DB: 176, ES: 176, Diff: 0) ✅ no inconsistencies found when counting entity: post, type: post, index_version: 2 - (DB: 37498, ES: 37498, Diff: 0) ✅ no inconsistencies found when counting entity: post, type: page, index_version: 2 - (DB: 176, ES: 176, Diff: 0) ``` ### Verify search results before activating a new index version The query parameter `vip-search--version` can be used to verify search results before activating a new index version by appending the parameter and a relevant version value to a site’s search query URL. `https://example.com/?s=&vip-search--version=` For example, the following URL could be used in the browser to verify search results for the search term `apple` against the `next` index version on `posts`: `https://example.com/?s=apple&vip-search-post-version=next` ## 4. Activate the new index If the new index version passes the [health check](https://docs.wpvip.com/vip-search/check-index-health/#h-validating-counts) and is in sync (`Diff: 0`) it is ready to be activated. The active index is the one that serves site traffic (queries), so be sure the target index is ready for production before switching. ```wp-block-preformatted $ vip @example-app.develop -- wp vip-search index-versions activate post next Are you sure you want to activate index version next for type post? [y/n] y Success: Successfully activated index version next for type post ``` ## 5. Delete the old index Once it is verified that the new index is handling requests correctly, the old index should be deleted. Only two index versions can exist at a given time. If the old version is not deleted, it will continue to be updated and indexed as content is created and modified. This may impact indexing performance. Use the `index-versions list ` command to determine if multiple indexes exist: ```wp-block-preformatted $ vip @example-app.develop -- wp vip-search index-versions list post +--------+--------+--------------+----------------+----------------+ | number | active | created_time | activated_time | document_count | +--------+--------+--------------+----------------+----------------+ | 1 | 1 | 1642182701 | 1642185939 | 2 | | 2 | | 1642449776 | | 0 | +--------+--------+--------------+----------------+----------------+ ``` In the example above, index `1` is marked as active. The active index cannot be deleted. Delete the older, inactive index with `index-versions delete previous`: ```wp-block-preformatted $ vip @example-app.develop -- wp vip-search index-versions delete post previous ⚠️ You are about to run a destructive operation. Are you sure? [y/n] y Success: Successfully deleted index version 1 for type post ``` **Note** Indexes that are not marked as `active` and older than a month will be automatically deleted. ## Testing index versions The query parameter `vip-search--version` can be appended to a site’s URL to test different index versions. This would be useful to test a new index version before activating it. For example, if a site currently has an active post index version of `1`, but they have an inactive post index version of `2`. They would use the query string of `&vip-search-post-version=2` to test index version `2` on the search query for the term “test”: https://example.com/?s=test&vip-search-post-version=2 Last updated: July 22, 2025