diff --git a/cmd/es-rollover/app/init/action.go b/cmd/es-rollover/app/init/action.go
index 63ae5214849..4651aba3ece 100644
--- a/cmd/es-rollover/app/init/action.go
+++ b/cmd/es-rollover/app/init/action.go
@@ -10,8 +10,6 @@ import (
 	"net/http"
 	"strings"
 
-	"github.com/elastic/go-elasticsearch/v8/typedapi/types"
-
 	"github.com/jaegertracing/jaeger/cmd/es-rollover/app"
 	"github.com/jaegertracing/jaeger/pkg/es"
 	"github.com/jaegertracing/jaeger/pkg/es/client"
@@ -58,10 +56,7 @@ func (c Action) Do() error {
 			return err
 		}
 		if !policyExist {
-			err := createDefaultILMPolicy(c.ILMClient, c.Config.ILMPolicyName)
-			if err != nil {
-				return fmt.Errorf("ILM policy %s Create/Update failed", c.Config.ILMPolicyName)
-			}
+			return fmt.Errorf("ILM policy %s doesn't exist in Elasticsearch. Please create it and re-run init", c.Config.ILMPolicyName)
 		}
 	}
 	rolloverIndices := app.RolloverIndices(c.Config.Archive, c.Config.SkipDependencies, c.Config.AdaptiveSampling, c.Config.Config.IndexPrefix)
@@ -73,64 +68,6 @@ func (c Action) Do() error {
 	return nil
 }
 
-const esILMPolicy = `
-{
-  "policy": {
-    "phases": {
-      "hot": {
-        "min_age": "9999ms",
-        "actions": {
-          "rollover": {
-            "max_age": "1m"
-          },
-          "set_priority": {
-            "priority": 9999
-          }
-        }
-      },
-      "delete": {
-        "min_age": "9999m",
-        "actions": {
-          "delete": {}
-        }
-      }
-    }
-  }
-}
-`
-
-func createDefaultILMPolicy(c client.IndexManagementLifecycleAPI, policy string) error {
-	ilmPolicy := types.NewIlmPolicy()
-	err := json.Unmarshal([]byte(esILMPolicy), ilmPolicy)
-	if err != nil {
-		return fmt.Errorf("error unmarshalling ILM policy: %w", err)
-	}
-	err = c.CreateOrUpdate(policy, client.Policy{ILMPolicy: *ilmPolicy})
-	if err != nil {
-		var esErr client.ResponseError
-		if errors.As(err, &esErr) {
-			if esErr.StatusCode != http.StatusBadRequest || esErr.Body == nil {
-				return esErr.Err
-			}
-			// check for the reason of the error
-			jsonError := map[string]any{}
-			err := json.Unmarshal(esErr.Body, &jsonError)
-			if err != nil {
-				// return unmarshal error
-				return err
-			}
-			errorMap := jsonError["error"].(map[string]any)
-			// check for reason, ignore already exist error
-			if strings.Contains(errorMap["type"].(string), "resource_already_exists_exception") {
-				return nil
-			}
-		}
-		// Return any other error unrelated to the response
-		return err
-	}
-	return nil
-}
-
 func createIndexIfNotExist(c client.IndexAPI, index string) error {
 	err := c.CreateIndex(index)
 	if err != nil {
diff --git a/cmd/es-rollover/app/init/action_test.go b/cmd/es-rollover/app/init/action_test.go
index b7d55a94bc6..0f87f579ea2 100644
--- a/cmd/es-rollover/app/init/action_test.go
+++ b/cmd/es-rollover/app/init/action_test.go
@@ -110,19 +110,12 @@ func TestRolloverAction(t *testing.T) {
 			},
 		},
 		{
-			name: "create ILM policy",
-			setupCallExpectations: func(indexClient *mocks.IndexAPI, clusterClient *mocks.ClusterAPI, ilmClient *mocks.IndexManagementLifecycleAPI) {
+			name: "ilm doesnt exist",
+			setupCallExpectations: func(_ *mocks.IndexAPI, clusterClient *mocks.ClusterAPI, ilmClient *mocks.IndexManagementLifecycleAPI) {
 				clusterClient.On("Version").Return(uint(7), nil)
 				ilmClient.On("Exists", "myilmpolicy").Return(false, nil)
-				indexClient.On("CreateTemplate", mock.Anything, "jaeger-span").Return(nil)
-				indexClient.On("CreateIndex", "jaeger-span-archive-000001").Return(nil)
-				indexClient.On("GetJaegerIndices", "").Return([]client.Index{}, nil)
-				indexClient.On("CreateAlias", []client.Alias{
-					{Index: "jaeger-span-archive-000001", Name: "jaeger-span-archive-read", IsWriteIndex: false},
-					{Index: "jaeger-span-archive-000001", Name: "jaeger-span-archive-write", IsWriteIndex: true},
-				}).Return(nil)
-				ilmClient.On("CreateOrUpdate", "myilmpolicy", mock.Anything).Return(nil)
 			},
+			expectedErr: errors.New("ILM policy myilmpolicy doesn't exist in Elasticsearch. Please create it and re-run init"),
 			config: Config{
 				Config: app.Config{
 					Archive:       true,
diff --git a/plugin/storage/integration/elasticsearch_test.go b/plugin/storage/integration/elasticsearch_test.go
index 3eee8e8379d..3bab9cc4180 100644
--- a/plugin/storage/integration/elasticsearch_test.go
+++ b/plugin/storage/integration/elasticsearch_test.go
@@ -44,7 +44,6 @@ const (
 	dependenciesTemplateName = "jaeger-dependencies"
 	primaryNamespace         = "es"
 	archiveNamespace         = "es-archive"
-	ilmPolicy                = "jaeger-ilm-policy"
 )
 
 type ESStorageIntegration struct {
@@ -245,33 +244,3 @@ func (s *ESStorageIntegration) cleanESIndexTemplates(t *testing.T, prefix string
 	}
 	return nil
 }
-
-func TestElasticsearchStorage_ILMPolicy(t *testing.T) {
-	SkipUnlessEnv(t, "elasticsearch", "opensearch")
-	t.Cleanup(func() {
-		testutils.VerifyGoLeaksOnceForES(t)
-	})
-	c := getESHttpClient(t)
-	require.NoError(t, healthCheck(c))
-	s := &ESStorageIntegration{}
-	s.initializeES(t, c, true)
-	esVersion, err := s.getVersion()
-	require.NoError(t, err)
-	if esVersion == 8 {
-		request := s.v8Client.ILM.GetLifecycle.WithPolicy(ilmPolicy)
-		ilmPolicyExistsResponse, err := s.v8Client.ILM.GetLifecycle(request)
-		require.NoError(t, err)
-		assert.Equal(t, 200, ilmPolicyExistsResponse.StatusCode)
-	}
-	s.cleanEsILMPolicy(t)
-}
-
-func (s *ESStorageIntegration) cleanEsILMPolicy(t *testing.T) error {
-	version, err := s.getVersion()
-	require.NoError(t, err)
-	if version == 8 {
-		_, err := s.v8Client.ILM.RemovePolicy(ilmPolicy)
-		require.NoError(t, err)
-	}
-	return nil
-}