# Empty Nodes? **URL:** \ **Category:** Elasticsearch\ **Created:** [January 23, 2017, 2:45pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/empty-nodes/72494 "2017-01-23T14:45:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Trynar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@Trynar](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Trynar)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2017, 2:45pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/empty-nodes/72494/1 "2017-01-23T14:45:13Z")
Hi, Just a simple question which i can't find any answer. If in an index, i use - 3 primary shards - 1 replica shards Then i start 8 nodes. Will only 6 nodes be busy ? And so, what can be a better configuration ? (i use 3 to 8 nodes depending on the situation) 4 primary / 2 replicas ? Thanks in advance, and have a nice day ! Trynar. ---
**Author:** ![dakrone](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/dakrone/32/23351_2.png) [@dakrone](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/dakrone)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2017, 5:41pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/empty-nodes/72494/2 "2017-01-23T17:41:19Z")
Hi Trynar, If you started 8 nodes with a single index in that configuration, data would only exist on six of the nodes. When considering how to lay out your data, you should think about what kind of node configuration you expect to have, for example, if you have a maximum of eight data nodes, then you should try to have a minimum of eight shards in the cluster. With your nodes, increasing the number of primary shards will increase the write throughput, since the indexing operations are spread across more nodes. On the other hand, increasing the number of replica shards will increase the amount of nodes that can participate in read operations, assisting with read performance. In your case, doing 4 primary shards and 2 replicas (for a total of 12 shards) is a fine solution, but of course, it depends on what sort of use case you are using Elasticsearch for. I would recommend you start there (or something like 4 primary and 1 replica if you want to start even smaller). When in doubt, the default settings (5 primaries and 1 replica) will go a very long way. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2017, 5:41pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/empty-nodes/72494/3 "2017-02-20T17:41:22Z")
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