# Force new master?

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/force-new-master/8467>\
**Category:** Elasticsearch\
**Created:** [July 19, 2012, 3:17pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/force-new-master/8467 "2012-07-19T15:17:46Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Tim\_J](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@Tim\_J](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Tim_J)\
**Post date:** [July 19, 2012, 3:17pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/force-new-master/8467/1 "2012-07-19T15:17:46Z")

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Hey folks,  
Is there any way to force the election of a new master? I've run into a  
few situations where I need to make changes to all nodes in my cluster,  
either to update a plugin or to update configuration and it's always  
problematic when I get to the master. It would be nice if I could force a  
new master to be elected in an orderly manner so that it doesn't just get  
pulled out from under the cluster. Does such an option exist?

Thanks,  
-Tim

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**Author:** ![jprante](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/jprante/32/44941_2.png) [@jprante](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/jprante)\
**Post date:** [July 19, 2012, 8:19pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/force-new-master/8467/2 "2012-07-19T20:19:08Z")

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Hi Tim,

I think you are observing a master change when you restart a master node,  
for example when installing plugins. That is expected. Because the node you  
restart is going down, it disconnects from the cluster, and the discovery  
module must elect a new master. But, since all nodes are equal, and each  
one can become the master node, it will not have much effects. AFAIK the  
master node is only responsible for broadcasting a new cluster state to all  
other nodes. The master node in Elasticsearch is not comparable to the  
master in the commonly known master/slave communication model. So you  
shouldn't worry too much about master node changes.

Best regards,

Jörg

On Thursday, July 19, 2012 5:17:46 PM UTC+2, Tim J wrote:

> Hey folks,  
> Is there any way to force the election of a new master? I've run into a  
> few situations where I need to make changes to all nodes in my cluster,  
> either to update a plugin or to update configuration and it's always  
> problematic when I get to the master. It would be nice if I could force a  
> new master to be elected in an orderly manner so that it doesn't just get  
> pulled out from under the cluster. Does such an option exist?
> 
> Thanks,  
> -Tim

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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:** [July 6, 2017, 3:19am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/force-new-master/8467/3 "2017-07-06T03:19:46Z")

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