# Can i have 0 shards?

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/can-i-have-0-shards/148226>\
**Category:** Elasticsearch\
**Created:** [September 11, 2018, 9:52pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/can-i-have-0-shards/148226 "2018-09-11T21:52:04Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![ana1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/77aa72/32.png) [@ana1](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/ana1)\
**Post date:** [September 11, 2018, 9:52pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/can-i-have-0-shards/148226/1 "2018-09-11T21:52:04Z")

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Hi guys,

Sorry i am new in elastic and i didnt find my question, what happen if i only have one node and the size of my indices are small. Can i put 0 shards? i mean i didnt see the reason to put more, because if i put one is like have only a copy of the index?

Which is the minimum number of shards that i can have?

Thanks a lot..

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**Author:** ![warkolm](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/warkolm/32/39224_2.png) [@warkolm](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/warkolm)\
**Post date:** [September 11, 2018, 10:03pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/can-i-have-0-shards/148226/2 "2018-09-11T22:03:38Z")

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The minimum is 1 shard, you cannot store data if there are no shards.

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**Author:** ![Bernt\_Rostad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3ab097/32.png) [@Bernt\_Rostad](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Bernt_Rostad)\
**Post date:** [September 12, 2018, 3:45am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/can-i-have-0-shards/148226/3 "2018-09-12T03:45:07Z")

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> [@ana1](#):
>
> Can i put 0 shards

I believe you mean **replica shards** and, yes, you can specify zero replica shards for an index. It is a dynamic setting so you can set `"number_of_replicas": 0` both for an existing index, using the [Update Indices Settings](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/indices-update-settings.html)) API, and in the [Index Templates](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/indices-templates.html) for new indices.

In your case, with just one node, you can't have replica shards anyway, as they will just end up unassigned so you really should set number\_of\_replicas to 0.

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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:** [October 10, 2018, 3:45am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/can-i-have-0-shards/148226/4 "2018-10-10T03:45:10Z")

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