# ES7: Do we need cluster.initial\_master\_nodes when a node restarts? **URL:** \ **Category:** Elasticsearch\ **Created:** [February 27, 2020, 8:01pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/es7-do-we-need-cluster-initial-master-nodes-when-a-node-restarts/221320 "2020-02-27T20:01:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![UDixit](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/udixit/32/53219_2.png) [@UDixit](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/UDixit)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2020, 8:01pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/es7-do-we-need-cluster-initial-master-nodes-when-a-node-restarts/221320/1 "2020-02-27T20:01:07Z")
As per the documents, we need `Cluster.initial_master_nodes` only for the first bootstrap of the cluster. 1. How does a node join the cluster when it restarts? Does it only need the sed\_hosts to discover others? 2. What if the entire cluster went down? will the nodes use the `initial_master_node` setting? 3. Since in most cases, we gradually add nodes to the cluster the `initial_master_nodes` setting should always be the very first node that started. In what scenarios will you add 2 or more nodes names to this setting? ---
**Author:** ![DavidTurner](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/davidturner/32/22453_2.png) [@DavidTurner](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/DavidTurner)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2020, 8:08pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/es7-do-we-need-cluster-initial-master-nodes-when-a-node-restarts/221320/2 "2020-02-27T20:08:20Z")
> [@UDixit](#): > > How does a node join the cluster when it restarts? Does it only need the seed\_hosts to discover others? Yes, that's right. > [@UDixit](#): > > What if the entire cluster went down? will the nodes use the `initial_master_node` setting? No, it's only used the very first time the cluster starts. > [@UDixit](#): > > In what scenarios will you add 2 or more nodes names to this setting? It's ok to start your nodes one-at-a-time if you want, but it's not unusual to start up all the nodes at once to make sure that it's fault-tolerant right from the start. ---
**Author:** ![UDixit](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/udixit/32/53219_2.png) [@UDixit](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/UDixit)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2020, 8:13pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/es7-do-we-need-cluster-initial-master-nodes-when-a-node-restarts/221320/3 "2020-02-27T20:13:00Z")
Thanks for the prompt reply. Really appreciated. So there is no harm in populating the `cluster.initial_master_nodes` repeatedly. It should simply get ignored ---
**Author:** ![DavidTurner](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/davidturner/32/22453_2.png) [@DavidTurner](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/DavidTurner)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2020, 8:32pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/es7-do-we-need-cluster-initial-master-nodes-when-a-node-restarts/221320/4 "2020-02-27T20:32:15Z")
> [@UDixit](#): > > So there is no harm in populating the `cluster.initial_master_nodes` repeatedly. > It should simply get ignored It's safest to remove it as soon as possible after the cluster has started up for the first time, which is what the [docs recommend](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/discovery-settings.html#initial_master_nodes): > You should not use this setting when restarting a cluster or adding a new node to an existing cluster. It's _mostly_ ok to leave it in place, but that does open the door to some (really rare) failure scenarios that can result in data loss. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2020, 8:32pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/es7-do-we-need-cluster-initial-master-nodes-when-a-node-restarts/221320/5 "2020-03-26T20:32:29Z")
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