# 2 server cluster with failover **URL:** \ **Category:** Elasticsearch\ **Created:** [May 28, 2015, 5:25pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/2-server-cluster-with-failover/1504 "2015-05-28T17:25:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Prakhar\_Mishra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f19dbf/32.png) [@Prakhar\_Mishra](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Prakhar_Mishra)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2015, 5:25pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/2-server-cluster-with-failover/1504/1 "2015-05-28T17:25:53Z")
Hello @All, Suppose, I have 2 virtual machines (4 core, 8 gb RAM, CentOS each). According to elasticsearch's documentation, half of RAM should be allocated to elasticsearch. So, this is what I came up with: Node1: Elasticsearch **Master n Data** node with **4 gb** HEAP (server1) Node2: Elasticsearch **Master Only** (no data) node with **1 gb** HEAP (server1) Node3: Elasticsearch **Master n Data** node with **4 gb** HEAP (server2) Now, why I want to deploy 3 nodes on 2 servers? Because I want to avoid the **Split Brains** problem. Is this is a sane strategy? Or can there be a better clustering strategy? Moreover, if I remove Master Only node (Node2) from my load balancer i.e. any request of search / insert / update / delete will not be sent to it, will it still require 1 gb HEAP? ---
**Author:** ![magnusbaeck](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/magnusbaeck/32/44943_2.png) [@magnusbaeck](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/magnusbaeck)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2015, 5:55pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/2-server-cluster-with-failover/1504/2 "2015-05-28T17:55:52Z")
Mailing list thread with more context: [https://groups.google.com/d/topic/elasticsearch/HX8b8JDyW7E/discussion](https://groups.google.com/d/topic/elasticsearch/HX8b8JDyW7E/discussion) ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2017, 12:11am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/2-server-cluster-with-failover/1504/3 "2017-07-06T00:11:11Z")