# How many elastic search shards should I have for a physical node? **URL:** \ **Category:** Elasticsearch\ **Created:** [June 1, 2015, 11:04am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-many-elastic-search-shards-should-i-have-for-a-physical-node/23734 "2015-06-01T11:04:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Avinash\_Pandey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9de0a6/32.png) [@Avinash\_Pandey](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Avinash_Pandey)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2015, 11:04am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-many-elastic-search-shards-should-i-have-for-a-physical-node/23734/1 "2015-06-01T11:04:06Z")
There are many variables here like the number of documents, the size of documents. What I want to understand though, is that what are the downsides of having of too many shards for a physical node? ## -- Please update your bookmarks! We have moved to [https://discuss.elastic.co/](https://discuss.elastic.co/) You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "elasticsearch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com](mailto:elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com). To view this discussion on the web visit [https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/elasticsearch/79e45b39-7980-4e40-a6c7-860132fd0a6d%40googlegroups.com](https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/elasticsearch/79e45b39-7980-4e40-a6c7-860132fd0a6d%40googlegroups.com). For more options, visit [https://groups.google.com/d/optout](https://groups.google.com/d/optout). ---
**Author:** ![dadoonet](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/dadoonet/32/137187_2.png) [@dadoonet](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/dadoonet)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2015, 11:55am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-many-elastic-search-shards-should-i-have-for-a-physical-node/23734/2 "2015-06-01T11:55:20Z")
Each shard is a Lucene instance. It uses memory, file descriptors, CPU, IO... You should keep its number per node small. If you are a RDBMS user, you probably limit the number of databases you manage on a single physical machine, right? HTH -- David 😉 Twitter : @dadoonet / @elasticsearchfr / @scrutmydocs > Le 1 juin 2015 à 13:04, Avinash Pandey [avinashpandey.iitd@gmail.com](mailto:avinashpandey.iitd@gmail.com) a écrit : > > ## There are many variables here like the number of documents, the size of documents. What I want to understand though, is that what are the downsides of having of too many shards for a physical node? > > ## Please update your bookmarks! We have moved to [https://discuss.elastic.co/](https://discuss.elastic.co/) > > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "elasticsearch" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com](mailto:elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com). > To view this discussion on the web visit [https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/elasticsearch/79e45b39-7980-4e40-a6c7-860132fd0a6d%40googlegroups.com](https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/elasticsearch/79e45b39-7980-4e40-a6c7-860132fd0a6d%40googlegroups.com). > For more options, visit [https://groups.google.com/d/optout](https://groups.google.com/d/optout). ## -- Please update your bookmarks! We have moved to [https://discuss.elastic.co/](https://discuss.elastic.co/) You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "elasticsearch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com](mailto:elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com). To view this discussion on the web visit [https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/elasticsearch/DCFC6890-A3EC-424E-9E32-011284BB8B43%40pilato.fr](https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/elasticsearch/DCFC6890-A3EC-424E-9E32-011284BB8B43%40pilato.fr). For more options, visit [https://groups.google.com/d/optout](https://groups.google.com/d/optout). ---
**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, 12:10am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-many-elastic-search-shards-should-i-have-for-a-physical-node/23734/3 "2017-07-06T00:10:30Z")