Data lifecycle docs: “Configure a lifecycle policy” fixes

[kilfoyle]

This feedback affects the Configure a lifecycle policy and maybe a few others. Lots of stuff in here.

• My web search takes me to “Configure a lifecycle policy” or similar, but I have no idea what “ILM” is.

  • Make all first instances of “ILM” on a page a link to the main Index lifecycle management page.

• How do I find which index lifecycle policy I'm using?

  • Document that the lifecycle policy name can be found under Index management > Indices > select index with an ILM policy configured -> Index lifecycle tab > Policy name.
  • You can also search for a data stream in the “Data Streams” tab, select it, and in the flyout check the “index lifecycle policy” field.

• We don't mention in the docs that you need to enable “Include hidden indices” to see my index.

  • Check anywhere that we mention the Index Management table and add a note that you need to enable “Include hidden indices” to see most indices. By default, only manually created indices are shown. Data stream backing indices are hidden.
  • By default, only manually created indices are shown.

• From the full list of indices, what do I search for? How do I know the name of the index I care about?

  • For standard Observability or Security use cases, you will always have two ILM policies, one for logs and one for metrics. We need to explain this.
  • From the indices table I need to check different indices until I find one with an ILM policy. You can tell by whether or not there's an “Index lifecycle” tab. Sorting the indices by storage size is one approach to finding an index with an ILM policy.

• It's not obvious that if I change something in my “logs” or “metrics” index lifecycle policy that it can affect many, many other indices. “Oh my god, my data just got deleted!”

• Document Go to Index Lifecycle Policies > Enable “Include managed system policies” > search “logs” to find the “logs” managed policy. View the “Linked index templates” and “Linked indices” to see how many will be affected.

• There's both a current impact on the existing indices (from integrations that I've already installed and data that I already have), and a possible future impact on indices that will be created under currently unused index templates (see11:00 in Zoya's discussion for details).