# Discovery.zen.minimum\_master\_nodes: 7 but still getting split brain

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/discovery-zen-minimum-master-nodes-7-but-still-getting-split-brain/35195>\
**Category:** Elasticsearch\
**Created:** [November 21, 2015, 12:49am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/discovery-zen-minimum-master-nodes-7-but-still-getting-split-brain/35195 "2015-11-21T00:49:56Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![slackorama](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/slackorama/32/3588_2.png) [@slackorama](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/slackorama)\
**Post date:** [November 21, 2015, 12:49am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/discovery-zen-minimum-master-nodes-7-but-still-getting-split-brain/35195/1 "2015-11-21T00:49:56Z")

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Hi --

I have the following in my settings:

```
{
  "persistent": {
    "discovery": {
      "zen": {
        "minimum_master_nodes": "7"
      }
    }
  }
}

```

Yet twice in the past week, I've had clusters with nodes less than 7 split off from my 12 node cluster and start up their own cluster.

Do I need another setting to avoid split brain?

Thanks in advance,

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**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:** [November 21, 2015, 6:08am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/discovery-zen-minimum-master-nodes-7-but-still-getting-split-brain/35195/2 "2015-11-21T06:08:51Z")

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That's pretty odd what version are you on, are you running cross datacentre?  
It'd be easier if you just used something like 3 and then had dedicated masters, or just have 3 master eligible out of the 12.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Christian\_Dahlqvist](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/christian_dahlqvist/32/4617_2.png) [@Christian\_Dahlqvist](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Christian_Dahlqvist)\
**Post date:** [November 21, 2015, 11:21am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/discovery-zen-minimum-master-nodes-7-but-still-getting-split-brain/35195/3 "2015-11-21T11:21:19Z")

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Why are you passing the value as a string instead of an intager?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![slackorama](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/slackorama/32/3588_2.png) [@slackorama](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/slackorama)\
**Post date:** [November 22, 2015, 12:13am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/discovery-zen-minimum-master-nodes-7-but-still-getting-split-brain/35195/4 "2015-11-22T00:13:19Z")

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I actually pass it as an integer but when I pull it out of the settings it  
comes back as a string.

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<div class="post-metadata">

**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, 11:36pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/discovery-zen-minimum-master-nodes-7-but-still-getting-split-brain/35195/5 "2017-07-05T23:36:44Z")

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