diff --git a/plugins/outputs/elasticsearch/elasticsearch.go b/plugins/outputs/elasticsearch/elasticsearch.go
index d6e5ac079..4b8b618cb 100644
--- a/plugins/outputs/elasticsearch/elasticsearch.go
+++ b/plugins/outputs/elasticsearch/elasticsearch.go
@@ -77,9 +77,9 @@ func (a *Elasticsearch) Connect() error {
 		year := strconv.Itoa(time.Now().Year())
 		a.IndexName = strings.Replace(a.IndexName, "%Y", year, -1)
 		a.IndexName = strings.Replace(a.IndexName, "%y", year[len(year)-2:], -1)
-		a.IndexName = strings.Replace(a.IndexName, "%m", strconv.Itoa(int(time.Now().Month())), -1)
-		a.IndexName = strings.Replace(a.IndexName, "%d", strconv.Itoa(time.Now().Day()), -1)
-		a.IndexName = strings.Replace(a.IndexName, "%H", strconv.Itoa(time.Now().Hour()), -1)
+		a.IndexName = strings.Replace(a.IndexName, "%m", fmt.Sprintf("%0.2d", time.Now().Month()), -1)
+		a.IndexName = strings.Replace(a.IndexName, "%d", fmt.Sprintf("%0.2d", time.Now().Day()), -1)
+		a.IndexName = strings.Replace(a.IndexName, "%H", fmt.Sprintf("%0.2d", time.Now().Hour()), -1)
 	}
 
 	exists, errExists := a.Client.IndexExists(a.IndexName).Do()
diff --git a/plugins/outputs/elasticsearch/elasticsearch_test.go b/plugins/outputs/elasticsearch/elasticsearch_test.go
index f55c4c07a..12f8424c4 100644
--- a/plugins/outputs/elasticsearch/elasticsearch_test.go
+++ b/plugins/outputs/elasticsearch/elasticsearch_test.go
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ func TestConnectAndWrite(t *testing.T) {
 
 	e := &Elasticsearch{
 		ServerHost:       serverhost,
-		IndexName:        "littletest",
+		IndexName:        "littletest-%Y%m%d",
 		NumberOfShards:   1,
 		NumberOfReplicas: 0,
 	}