# About index.unassigned.node\_left.delayed\_timeout setting

**URL:** https://discuss.elastic.co/t/about-index-unassigned-node-left-delayed-timeout-setting/58097
**Category:** Elasticsearch
**Created:** [August 16, 2016, 5:54am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/about-index-unassigned-node-left-delayed-timeout-setting/58097 "2016-08-16T05:54:17Z")
**Posts on this page:** 5
**Page:** 1

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### Author: ![Youxu](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/youxu/32/117375_2.png) [@Youxu](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Youxu)
#### Post date: [August 16, 2016, 5:54am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/about-index-unassigned-node-left-delayed-timeout-setting/58097/1 "2016-08-16T05:54:17Z")

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Per ES reference, we can delay the allocation when node leaves with following setting:

PUT /\_all/\_settings  
{  
"settings": {  
"index.unassigned.node\_left.delayed\_timeout": "5m"  
}  
}

My questions is,  
If I put this setting in elasticsearch.yml, does it work?

I tried to add this setting to yml config, the ES could be started successfully, but I don't know if it really works.

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### Author: ![ywelsch](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/ywelsch/32/7751_2.png) [@ywelsch](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/ywelsch)
#### Post date: [August 16, 2016, 10:39am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/about-index-unassigned-node-left-delayed-timeout-setting/58097/2 "2016-08-16T10:39:04Z")

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Yes, it will work on Elasticsearch 2.x but not on 5.x (see discussion here: [https://github.com/elastic/elasticsearch/issues/18073](https://github.com/elastic/elasticsearch/issues/18073)). This is an index-level setting and should be set on the index. If you want this to apply to all newly created indices as well, you should define an index template that applies this setting.

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<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![Youxu](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/youxu/32/117375_2.png) [@Youxu](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Youxu)
#### Post date: [August 17, 2016, 3:53am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/about-index-unassigned-node-left-delayed-timeout-setting/58097/3 "2016-08-17T03:53:43Z")

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Thanks a lot!  
So it is better put this setting in template to be forward compatible to 5.x

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### Author: ![ywelsch](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/ywelsch/32/7751_2.png) [@ywelsch](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/ywelsch)
#### Post date: [August 17, 2016, 7:44am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/about-index-unassigned-node-left-delayed-timeout-setting/58097/4 "2016-08-17T07:44:32Z")

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yes 🙂

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### Author: ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)
#### Post date: [July 5, 2017, 10:27pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/about-index-unassigned-node-left-delayed-timeout-setting/58097/5 "2017-07-05T22:27:20Z")

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