---
title: Linked project unavailable
description: When a linked project in the datafeed's scope is skipped during a search cycle, Elasticsearch fails the entire extraction cycle instead of continuing...
url: https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-content/pull/7403/troubleshoot/elasticsearch/machine-learning/cps-datafeed-linked-project-unavailable
products:
  - Elastic Cloud Serverless
  - Elasticsearch
  - Machine Learning
applies_to:
  - Elastic Cloud Serverless: Preview
  - Elastic Stack: Unavailable
---

# Linked project unavailable
When a linked project in the datafeed's scope is **skipped** during a search cycle, Elasticsearch fails the entire extraction cycle instead of continuing on the remaining projects. Partial cross-project results could produce spurious anomalies, so the cycle produces no data, the error is audited, and the datafeed retries on its next scheduled cycle. You see repeated extraction errors in **Job messages** and gaps in results for the affected time buckets until every project in scope is reachable again or you narrow `project_routing`. A hard cluster failure (status `FAILED`, not `SKIPPED`) surfaces through the ordinary search-failure path with different **Job messages** text.

## Diagnose linked project unavailable

**Where to look**
- **anomaly detection job job messages in Kibana**: Open **Machine Learning → Anomaly Detection**, select the job, and review the **Job messages** tab for audit entries and warnings about linked projects, credentials, or scope changes. On the **Datafeed** tab, **View datafeed counts** opens the datafeed chart flyout for extraction timing.
  The same entries are stored in `.ml-notifications-*`.
- **`GET _ml/datafeeds/{datafeed_id}`**: Shows the effective `project_routing` value and, when an internal cloud credential exists, `authorization.cloud_api_key.id`.
- **`GET _ml/datafeeds/{datafeed_id}/_stats`**: While the datafeed runs, shows `remote_cluster_stats` with `total_clusters`, `available_clusters`, `skipped_clusters`, `availability_ratio`, `stabilized_cluster_aliases`, and `per_cluster_consecutive_skips`. The object is absent until the first search cycle establishes a baseline.
- **`.ml-annotations-*`**: Scope-change annotations for the job. The annotation `event` field carries `search_scope_changed` (not the separate `type` field).
- **`GET /_project/tags`**: Lists linked projects and their tags so you can compare them with a routing expression.
- **Elastic Cloud console**: Review linked projects in [Link and manage projects](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-content/pull/7403/deploy-manage/cross-project-search-config/cps-config-link-and-manage).

During active extraction problems, **Job messages** are authoritative. `remote_cluster_stats` from [get datafeed stats](https://www.elastic.co/docs/api/doc/elasticsearch/operation/operation-ml-get-datafeed-stats) reflects the last **completed** cycle.
**Error messages**
Skipped or failed linked projects surface in the anomaly detection job's **Job messages** tab (or `.ml-notifications-*`). The outer audit entry wraps the skip summary as its cause:
```txt
Datafeed is encountering errors extracting data: [1] remote clusters out of [3] were skipped when performing datafeed search
```

The bracketed skip and total counts vary with how many linked projects are in scope. The wrapped text is the message thrown when any linked project is skipped during the search.
**Read the per-project statistics**
Inspect `remote_cluster_stats` via [get datafeed stats](https://www.elastic.co/docs/api/doc/elasticsearch/operation/operation-ml-get-datafeed-stats).
During an active skip outage, `skipped_clusters` can remain `0` while skip errors repeat in **Job messages** because extraction aborts before stats are updated.
After cycles complete successfully, compare `per_cluster_consecutive_skips` and `availability_ratio` with `project_routing` from `GET _ml/datafeeds/{datafeed_id}` and linked projects from `GET /_project/tags` or the Cloud console.
Example excerpt (field names and structure match the stats API, values vary):
```json
"remote_cluster_stats": {
  "total_clusters": 3,
  "available_clusters": 3,
  "skipped_clusters": 0,
  "availability_ratio": 1.0,
  "stabilized_cluster_aliases": ["origin", "production", "staging"],
  "per_cluster_consecutive_skips": {}
}
```

**Distinguish configuration from an outage**

| Pattern                                                                                                                                                | Likely cause                                                              |
|--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| One datafeed skips a project that other datafeeds search successfully. `project_routing` names an unlinked alias or a project that is no longer linked | Configuration: stale or wrong routing                                     |
| Many unrelated datafeeds skip the **same** linked project at the same time. Cross-project queries fail broadly                                         | Platform outage or regional cross-project search connectivity degradation |

For routing or stale alias problems, see [Project scope problems](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-content/pull/7403/troubleshoot/elasticsearch/machine-learning/cps-datafeed-project-scope).
**Rule out an authorization failure**
An internal cloud credential problem can also stop cross-project searches. The distinguishing signal is a credential-specific message in **Job messages**, for example an authentication failure on the internal cloud API key or a forbidden response while using that key, rather than the skip summary above. See [Cloud credential problems](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-content/pull/7403/troubleshoot/elasticsearch/machine-learning/cps-datafeed-credentials).

## Resolve linked project unavailable

**Restore the project link**
If the linked project was removed or never linked, re-establish it in [Link and manage projects](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-content/pull/7403/deploy-manage/cross-project-search-config/cps-config-link-and-manage), then wait for the next extraction cycle or restart the datafeed.
**Remove the unavailable project from scope**
When a project stays unreachable and you need the datafeed to keep producing results from the remaining scope, narrow `project_routing` to an `_alias:` expression that excludes the unavailable project:
Stop the datafeed before updating it. If the datafeed is still running, the update fails with:
```txt
Cannot update datafeed [my-datafeed] while its status is started
```

The bracketed datafeed id and status vary with your configuration.
When a `project_routing` update changes the effective search scope, Elasticsearch retains the job's current model snapshot as a rollback point before applying the change. By default, that rollback gate requires the anomaly detection job to be closed. If the job is still open, the update fails with:
```txt
Cannot update project_routing for datafeed [my-datafeed] while job [my-job] is opened. Close the job so a rollback model snapshot can be retained.
```

The bracketed datafeed id, job id, and job state vary with your configuration.
The rollback gate also requires an existing model snapshot. If the job has never produced one, the update fails with:
```txt
Cannot update project_routing for datafeed [my-datafeed] because job [my-job] has no model snapshot to use as a rollback point. Open the job, ingest data, then close it before changing scope.
```

A job that has never run has no snapshot. Open it, let it process data, then close it before changing project scope.
Elasticsearch records the retained rollback snapshot in the job's **Job messages** (or `.ml-notifications-*`), for example:
```txt
Rollback model snapshot [1720000000] retained before project_routing scope change: Automatic rollback snapshot retained before project_routing scope change [] -> [_alias:prod-*]
```

When the datafeed already had a stored routing value, the bracketed pair shows the old and new expressions instead of an empty left side:
```txt
Rollback model snapshot [1720000000] retained before project_routing scope change: Automatic rollback snapshot retained before project_routing scope change [_alias:_origin] -> [_alias:prod-*]
```

You can revert to that snapshot if detection quality degrades after a scope change.
Exception: assigning `_alias:_origin` for the first time to a datafeed that had no `project_routing` preserves the existing local-only scope. That update bypasses the rollback gate entirely. Neither the closed-job check nor the snapshot requirement applies.
```json

{
  "project_routing": "_alias:production-*"
}
```

Use an expression that matches only the linked projects you still need. Changing scope can affect the model. See [Changing project scope](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-content/pull/7403/troubleshoot/elasticsearch/machine-learning/cps-datafeed-scope-change).
**Wait out a transient outage**
When the underlying link or platform issue clears, the datafeed recovers on the next successful cycle without configuration changes. **Job messages** might show:
```txt
Datafeed has recovered data extraction and analysis
```

After a long period with no ingested data, you might also see:
```txt
Datafeed has started retrieving data again
```

**Consider the model impact**
Each failed extraction cycle leaves a gap in the time series the anomaly detection job analyzes. If a project stays out of scope for an extended period (whether because of outages or because you narrowed routing), the model adapts to the changed data distribution. See [Changing project scope](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-content/pull/7403/troubleshoot/elasticsearch/machine-learning/cps-datafeed-scope-change) for rollback options.
**Verify**
**Job messages** should stop reporting new extraction errors for the skip cause. After at least one successful completed cycle, `remote_cluster_stats` should show `skipped_clusters` at `0` and no non-zero entries in `per_cluster_consecutive_skips`.
**When to contact support**
If many unrelated datafeeds still skip the same linked project after you confirm the project link and `project_routing` are correct, contact Elastic support with the project id, datafeed id, and the extraction error message text.