# An assigned shards -- max retries exceeded
**URL:** https://discuss.elastic.co/t/an-assigned-shards-max-retries-exceeded/264779
**Category:** Elasticsearch
**Created:** [February 19, 2021, 3:01am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/an-assigned-shards-max-retries-exceeded/264779 "2021-02-19T03:01:54Z")
**Posts on this page:** 3
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Russell\_Fulton](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Russell_Fulton)
#### Post date: [February 19, 2021, 3:01am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/an-assigned-shards-max-retries-exceeded/264779/1 "2021-02-19T03:01:54Z")
Running on 7.10
I have several indexes which have unassigned replica shards (although) the primaries are OK. For example:
```auto
{
"index" : "authm-000005",
"shard" : 1,
"primary" : false,
"current_state" : "unassigned",
"unassigned_info" : {
"reason" : "ALLOCATION_FAILED",
"at" : "2021-02-15T09:19:47.045Z",
"failed_allocation_attempts" : 5,
"details" : "failed shard on node [6UDagJW2T3eWM-0PQJ0rMA]: failed to create shard, failure IOException[failed to obtain in-memory shard lock]; nested: ShardLockObtainFailedException[[authm-000005][1]: obtaining shard lock for [starting shard] timed out after [5000ms], lock already held for [closing shard] with age [955200ms]]; ",
"last_allocation_status" : "no_attempt"
},
"can_allocate" : "no",
"allocate_explanation" : "cannot allocate because allocation is not permitted to any of the nodes",
```
All nodes give the same reason for blocking allocation.
```auto
"deciders" : [
{
"decider" : "max_retry",
"decision" : "NO",
"explanation" : "shard has exceeded the maximum number of retries [5] on failed allocation attempts - manually call [/_cluster/reroute?retry_failed=true] to retry, [unassigned_info[[reason=ALLOCATION_FAILED], at[2021-02-15T09:19:47.045Z], failed_attempts[5], failed_nodes[[6UDagJW2T3eWM-0PQJ0rMA]], delayed=false, details[failed shard on node [6UDagJW2T3eWM-0PQJ0rMA]: failed to create shard, failure IOException[failed to obtain in-memory shard lock]; nested: ShardLockObtainFailedException[[authm-000005][1]: obtaining shard lock for [starting shard] timed out after [5000ms], lock already held for [closing shard] with age [955200ms]]; ], allocation_status[no_attempt]]]"
```
I understand that some manual intervention is needed to break the deadlock but I can't figure out what I need to do. I have been trying various reroute commands but not getting anywhere.
---
### Author:  [@Russell\_Fulton](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Russell_Fulton)
#### Post date: [February 19, 2021, 3:10am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/an-assigned-shards-max-retries-exceeded/264779/2 "2021-02-19T03:10:40Z")
Well by the time I had finished typing it I stumbled across the answer. I tried the "allocate\_replica" command of reroute and it helpfully told me I needed to do `_cluster/reroute?retry_failed=true` several hundreds of lines of output to the terminal (thank heavens I did not ask for pretty!) the cluster immediately started allocating shards again and 5 minutes later it turned GREEN
---
### Author:  [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)
#### Post date: [March 19, 2021, 3:11am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/an-assigned-shards-max-retries-exceeded/264779/3 "2021-03-19T03:11:36Z")
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