diff --git a/metricbeat/docs/modules/elasticsearch.asciidoc b/metricbeat/docs/modules/elasticsearch.asciidoc
index 25fa6a508fd..dce48e6cf73 100644
--- a/metricbeat/docs/modules/elasticsearch.asciidoc
+++ b/metricbeat/docs/modules/elasticsearch.asciidoc
@@ -9,6 +9,8 @@ beta[]
 
 The Elasticsearch module contains a minimal set of metrics to enable monitoring of Elasticsearch across multiple versions. To monitor more Elasticsearch metrics, use our {monitoringdoc}/xpack-monitoring.html[X-Pack monitoring] which is available under a free basic license.
 
+The default metricsets are `node` and `node_stats`.
+
 
 [float]
 === Example configuration
@@ -20,8 +22,6 @@ in <<configuration-metricbeat>>. Here is an example configuration:
 ----
 metricbeat.modules:
 - module: elasticsearch
-  metricsets: ["node", "node_stats"]
-  period: 10s
   hosts: ["localhost:9200"]
 ----
 
diff --git a/metricbeat/module/elasticsearch/_meta/config.reference.yml b/metricbeat/module/elasticsearch/_meta/config.reference.yml
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..a792d2bee9d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/metricbeat/module/elasticsearch/_meta/config.reference.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+- module: elasticsearch
+  metricsets: ["node", "node_stats"]
+  period: 10s
+  hosts: ["localhost:9200"]
diff --git a/metricbeat/module/elasticsearch/_meta/config.yml b/metricbeat/module/elasticsearch/_meta/config.yml
index a792d2bee9d..bbb7ff0c47d 100644
--- a/metricbeat/module/elasticsearch/_meta/config.yml
+++ b/metricbeat/module/elasticsearch/_meta/config.yml
@@ -1,4 +1,2 @@
 - module: elasticsearch
-  metricsets: ["node", "node_stats"]
-  period: 10s
   hosts: ["localhost:9200"]
diff --git a/metricbeat/module/elasticsearch/_meta/docs.asciidoc b/metricbeat/module/elasticsearch/_meta/docs.asciidoc
index c56628f1a5f..0696f036442 100644
--- a/metricbeat/module/elasticsearch/_meta/docs.asciidoc
+++ b/metricbeat/module/elasticsearch/_meta/docs.asciidoc
@@ -1 +1,3 @@
 The Elasticsearch module contains a minimal set of metrics to enable monitoring of Elasticsearch across multiple versions. To monitor more Elasticsearch metrics, use our {monitoringdoc}/xpack-monitoring.html[X-Pack monitoring] which is available under a free basic license.
+
+The default metricsets are `node` and `node_stats`.
diff --git a/metricbeat/module/elasticsearch/node/node.go b/metricbeat/module/elasticsearch/node/node.go
index c12651b7400..c7b38bbdb74 100644
--- a/metricbeat/module/elasticsearch/node/node.go
+++ b/metricbeat/module/elasticsearch/node/node.go
@@ -11,9 +11,10 @@ import (
 // init registers the MetricSet with the central registry.
 // The New method will be called after the setup of the module and before starting to fetch data
 func init() {
-	if err := mb.Registry.AddMetricSet("elasticsearch", "node", New, hostParser); err != nil {
-		panic(err)
-	}
+	mb.Registry.MustAddMetricSet("elasticsearch", "node", New,
+		mb.WithHostParser(hostParser),
+		mb.DefaultMetricSet(),
+	)
 }
 
 var (
diff --git a/metricbeat/module/elasticsearch/node_stats/node_stats.go b/metricbeat/module/elasticsearch/node_stats/node_stats.go
index e93adc2d42f..db44f2246d3 100644
--- a/metricbeat/module/elasticsearch/node_stats/node_stats.go
+++ b/metricbeat/module/elasticsearch/node_stats/node_stats.go
@@ -11,9 +11,10 @@ import (
 // init registers the MetricSet with the central registry.
 // The New method will be called after the setup of the module and before starting to fetch data
 func init() {
-	if err := mb.Registry.AddMetricSet("elasticsearch", "node_stats", New, hostParser); err != nil {
-		panic(err)
-	}
+	mb.Registry.MustAddMetricSet("elasticsearch", "node_stats", New,
+		mb.WithHostParser(hostParser),
+		mb.DefaultMetricSet(),
+	)
 }
 
 var (
diff --git a/metricbeat/modules.d/elasticsearch.yml.disabled b/metricbeat/modules.d/elasticsearch.yml.disabled
index a792d2bee9d..bbb7ff0c47d 100644
--- a/metricbeat/modules.d/elasticsearch.yml.disabled
+++ b/metricbeat/modules.d/elasticsearch.yml.disabled
@@ -1,4 +1,2 @@
 - module: elasticsearch
-  metricsets: ["node", "node_stats"]
-  period: 10s
   hosts: ["localhost:9200"]