# How can I reduce the number of master candidate nodes from 3 to 1?
**URL:** https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-can-i-reduce-the-number-of-master-candidate-nodes-from-3-to-1/301612
**Category:** Elasticsearch
**Created:** [April 5, 2022, 9:45am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-can-i-reduce-the-number-of-master-candidate-nodes-from-3-to-1/301612 "2022-04-05T09:45:17Z")
**Posts on this page:** 3
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@hyungsun\_lim](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/hyungsun_lim)
#### Post date: [April 5, 2022, 9:45am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-can-i-reduce-the-number-of-master-candidate-nodes-from-3-to-1/301612/1 "2022-04-05T09:45:17Z")
There are a total of 4 nodes, of which 3 are master candidate nodes.
I would like to specify one master candidate node for testing, but the operation does not proceed with the error below.
```auto
"[2019-06-19T20:16:12,366][WARN][o.e.c.c.ClusterFormationFailureHelper] [node-d] master not discovered or elected yet, an election requires at least 2 nodes with ids from [wjxU7q4nReKwwD1y_ulTPw, tqa6ligxT5OF3N9jf1VfsQ, UtHL00IMRzihkL_erqCHPA], have discovered [] which is not a quorum; discovery will continue using [] from hosts providers and [{node-d}{UtHL00IMRzihkL_erqCHPA}{Bp98Iy8DThyZmtF2tkQR8g}{172.31.xx.xx}{172.31.xx.xx:9300}{ml.machine_memory=33449705472, xpack.installed=true, ml.max_open_jobs=20}] from last-known cluster state; node term 57, last-accepted version 45021 in term 57"
```
It worked well when there were 3 master candidate nodes, but when I apply the settings below and restart each node, the above message keeps popping up.
Maybe something is wrong with my settings?
**Node 1**
node.master: true
node.data: false
cluster.initial\_master\_nodes : ["node-1"]
discovery.seed\_hosts : ["node-1", "node-2", "node-3", "node-4"]
**Node 2**
node.master: false
node.data: true
cluster.initial\_master\_nodes : ["node-1"]
discovery.seed\_hosts : ["node-1", "node-2", "node-3", "node-4"]
**Node 3**
node.master: false
node.data: true
cluster.initial\_master\_nodes : ["node-1"]
discovery.seed\_hosts : ["node-1", "node-2", "node-3", "node-4"]
**Node 4**
node.master: false
node.data: true
cluster.initial\_master\_nodes : ["node-1"]
discovery.seed\_hosts : ["node-1", "node-2", "node-3", "node-4"]
---
### Author:  [@DavidTurner](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/DavidTurner)
#### Post date: [April 5, 2022, 11:31am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-can-i-reduce-the-number-of-master-candidate-nodes-from-3-to-1/301612/2 "2022-04-05T11:31:22Z")
You should have at least 3 master-eligible nodes in your cluster. See these docs for more details: [Designing for resilience | Elasticsearch Guide [8.1] | Elastic](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/high-availability-cluster-design.html)
If you really want to proceed anyway, you are effectively removing the master-eligible nodes from your cluster so you must follow these docs: [Add and remove nodes in your cluster | Elasticsearch Guide [8.1] | Elastic](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/add-elasticsearch-nodes.html#modules-discovery-removing-nodes)
---
### Author:  [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2022, 11:31am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-can-i-reduce-the-number-of-master-candidate-nodes-from-3-to-1/301612/3 "2022-05-03T11:31:34Z")
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