# Changing number of shards and replicas for an existing index?
**URL:** https://discuss.elastic.co/t/changing-number-of-shards-and-replicas-for-an-existing-index/5195
**Category:** Elasticsearch
**Created:** [August 18, 2011, 7:59pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/changing-number-of-shards-and-replicas-for-an-existing-index/5195 "2011-08-18T19:59:57Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Tony\_Chong](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Tony_Chong)
#### Post date: [August 18, 2011, 7:59pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/changing-number-of-shards-and-replicas-for-an-existing-index/5195/1 "2011-08-18T19:59:57Z")
I have been doing some research on adding shards and replicas after they
have been created. It appears that replicas are no big deal. Use the API,
and elasticsearch will distribute copies evenly across your cluster.
In one article I read on nabble, adding a shard after the fact
causes repartitioning and is expensive and it is better to create another
index. I'm not quite sure if I follow along completely. Could someone
elaborate?
[http://elasticsearch-users.115913.n3.nabble.com/Choosing-Shards-and-Replica-s-configuration-values-tc1593807.html#a1594204](http://elasticsearch-users.115913.n3.nabble.com/Choosing-Shards-and-Replica-s-configuration-values-tc1593807.html#a1594204)
Thanks a bunch,
Tony
---
### Author:  [@James\_Cook](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/James_Cook)
#### Post date: [August 19, 2011, 2:01am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/changing-number-of-shards-and-replicas-for-an-existing-index/5195/2 "2011-08-19T02:01:33Z")
You can't change the number of shards. They move around between nodes as
nodes come and go, but the number of shards are static.
-- jim
---
### Author:  [@kimchy](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/kimchy)
#### Post date: [August 19, 2011, 4:37am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/changing-number-of-shards-and-replicas-for-an-existing-index/5195/3 "2011-08-19T04:37:06Z")
The idea of creating another index means that you can work around the limit
of not being able to change the number of shards. That is possible since you
can search across indices.
On Thu, Aug 18, 2011 at 10:59 PM, Tony Chong [tonyjchong@gmail.com](mailto:tonyjchong@gmail.com) wrote:
> I have been doing some research on adding shards and replicas after they
> have been created. It appears that replicas are no big deal. Use the API,
> and elasticsearch will distribute copies evenly across your cluster.
>
> In one article I read on nabble, adding a shard after the fact
> causes repartitioning and is expensive and it is better to create another
> index. I'm not quite sure if I follow along completely. Could someone
> elaborate?
>
> [http://elasticsearch-users.115913.n3.nabble.com/Choosing-Shards-and-Replica-s-configuration-values-tc1593807.html#a1594204](http://elasticsearch-users.115913.n3.nabble.com/Choosing-Shards-and-Replica-s-configuration-values-tc1593807.html#a1594204)
>
> Thanks a bunch,
>
> Tony
---
### Author:  [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)
#### Post date: [July 6, 2017, 3:56am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/changing-number-of-shards-and-replicas-for-an-existing-index/5195/4 "2017-07-06T03:56:37Z")