# Changing index replication factor to 0

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/changing-index-replication-factor-to-0/305482>\
**Category:** Elasticsearch\
**Created:** [May 24, 2022, 9:43am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/changing-index-replication-factor-to-0/305482 "2022-05-24T09:43:07Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![charvi23](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/charvi23/32/103607_2.png) [@charvi23](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/charvi23)\
**Post date:** [May 24, 2022, 9:43am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/changing-index-replication-factor-to-0/305482/1 "2022-05-24T09:43:08Z")

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Currently I am working on a single node Elasticsearch setup. But the replication factor was set to 1 by default. The space on my node is 3TB. If I decrease the replication factor to 0 , what will happen in that case?

1. On the current node since replication factor is 1 , does this create 2 replicas?
2. What will happen to the already consumed space on this node, will that be decreased or will it not impact?
3. Once I move to production, should I move replication factor back to 1 or this will only be required if another node is added.

Basically I want to understand the concept of changing the replication factor on the space consumed on the node.

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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:** [May 24, 2022, 9:45am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/changing-index-replication-factor-to-0/305482/2 "2022-05-24T09:45:22Z")

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If you have a single node then you will never be able to allocate replicas, so it makes no impact.

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**Author:** ![charvi23](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/charvi23/32/103607_2.png) [@charvi23](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/charvi23)\
**Post date:** [May 24, 2022, 9:47am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/changing-index-replication-factor-to-0/305482/3 "2022-05-24T09:47:20Z")

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Thank you for replying. So that means if I need additional space I would have to add new nodes, decreasing replication factor would not help. Right?

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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:** [May 24, 2022, 9:51am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/changing-index-replication-factor-to-0/305482/4 "2022-05-24T09:51:01Z")

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If you add a new node to the cluster, then replicas will, by default, be allocated. That means you need two nodes of the same size as your existing node to fit all the data. If you added a 3rd node, then per node usage would be lower.

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**Author:** ![charvi23](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/charvi23/32/103607_2.png) [@charvi23](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/charvi23)\
**Post date:** [May 24, 2022, 10:08am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/changing-index-replication-factor-to-0/305482/5 "2022-05-24T10:08:35Z")

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Thanks this helps!!

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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:** [June 21, 2022, 10:09am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/changing-index-replication-factor-to-0/305482/6 "2022-06-21T10:09:36Z")

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