Index alias filters are not respected (Kibana 4.3)

[rossbrower]

If an index pattern is created from an alias that has a filter the discover pane shows results which somehow bypass the filter. In my case I am using a terms filter based on _type. The discover pane also lists the fields for the type which I should not be seeing. The goal in using aliases was to make it easier for a user to make a visualization based on data of a particular type without needing to mess with the search bar. These limitations make using the index alias feature pointless in our case.

[rashidkpc]

Due to the way kibana resolves the indices of timebased indices we can not support filtered aliases. It is the nature of the elasticsearch _field_stats API to return the resolved indices behind the alias, not the alias itself.

We use the _field_stats API to optimize the way Kibana queries elasticsearch.

The right way to bind visualizations to a filtered subset of data in Kibana is to create a saved search, then link the visualization to it. They're also a lot easier to update than aliases!

[rossbrower]

Ok perhaps Kibana should disallow adding an index pattern for an alias and provide a helpful message. Otherwise you end up with multiple copies of the index pattern for the base index and a confused user looking at every type of data in the index despite the filter.

[zcola]

But I really need the alias to distinguish index privileges。