diff --git a/salt/elasticsearch/template.map.jinja b/salt/elasticsearch/template.map.jinja
index 7acb3eb87..72be1ec58 100644
--- a/salt/elasticsearch/template.map.jinja
+++ b/salt/elasticsearch/template.map.jinja
@@ -4,8 +4,11 @@
    Elastic License 2.0. #}
 
 {% import_yaml 'elasticsearch/defaults.yaml' as ELASTICSEARCHDEFAULTS %}
+{# ELASTICSEARCHMERGED only used here to collect data_retention_method. This file intentionally works with ELASTICSEARCHDEFAULTS #}
+{% from 'elasticsearch/config.map.jinja' import ELASTICSEARCHMERGED %}
+
 {% set DEFAULT_GLOBAL_OVERRIDES = ELASTICSEARCHDEFAULTS.elasticsearch.index_settings.pop('global_overrides') %}
-{% set DATA_RETENTION_METHOD = salt['pillar.get']('elasticsearch:data_retention_method', ELASTICSEARCHDEFAULTS.elasticsearch.get('data_retention_method', 'ILM')) %}
+{% set DATA_RETENTION_METHOD = ELASTICSEARCHMERGED.data_retention_method %}
 
 {% set PILLAR_GLOBAL_OVERRIDES = {} %}
 {% set ES_INDEX_PILLAR = salt['pillar.get']('elasticsearch:index_settings', {}) %}
diff --git a/salt/elasticsearch/tools/sbin_jinja/so-elasticsearch-dlm-apply b/salt/elasticsearch/tools/sbin_jinja/so-elasticsearch-dlm-apply
index af761973c..e25e07223 100644
--- a/salt/elasticsearch/tools/sbin_jinja/so-elasticsearch-dlm-apply
+++ b/salt/elasticsearch/tools/sbin_jinja/so-elasticsearch-dlm-apply
@@ -6,9 +6,8 @@
 
 . /usr/sbin/so-common
 
-{%- import_yaml 'elasticsearch/defaults.yaml' as ELASTICSEARCHDEFAULTS %}
-
-{%- set DATA_RETENTION_METHOD = salt['pillar.get']('elasticsearch:data_retention_method', ELASTICSEARCHDEFAULTS.elasticsearch.get('data_retention_method', 'ILM')) %}
+{%   from 'elasticsearch/config.map.jinja' import ELASTICSEARCHMERGED %}
+{%- set DATA_RETENTION_METHOD = ELASTICSEARCHMERGED.data_retention_method %}
 
 ELASTICSEARCH_TEMPLATES_DIR="${ELASTICSEARCH_TEMPLATES_DIR:-/opt/so/conf/elasticsearch/templates}"
 TEMPLATE_DIRS=(
diff --git a/salt/manager/tools/sbin/soup b/salt/manager/tools/sbin/soup
index 0016cc00e..96313aea4 100755
--- a/salt/manager/tools/sbin/soup
+++ b/salt/manager/tools/sbin/soup
@@ -784,12 +784,13 @@ pin_elasticsearch_data_retention_method() {
 # Reference: https://github.com/elastic/kibana/issues/263048
 kibana_backport_streams_index_template() {
     local current_template updated_template
-    current_template=$(so-elasticsearch-query "_index_template/.kibana_streams" --retry 3 --retry-delay 5 --fail)
 
-    if [[ -z "$current_template" ]]; then
+    set +e
+    if ! current_template=$(so-elasticsearch-query "_index_template/.kibana_streams" --retry 3 --retry-delay 5 --fail); then
         echo "Index template .kibana_streams does not exist, skipping backport."
         return 0
     fi
+    set -e
 
     updated_template=$(jq '.index_templates[0].index_template | .template.settings += {"index.auto_expand_replicas": "0-1"} | del(.created_date_millis, .modified_date_millis)' <<< "$current_template")