# How many master nodes on a three node cluster on elasticsearch?

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-many-master-nodes-on-a-three-node-cluster-on-elasticsearch/41616>\
**Category:** Elasticsearch\
**Created:** [February 12, 2016, 1:51pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-many-master-nodes-on-a-three-node-cluster-on-elasticsearch/41616 "2016-02-12T13:51:43Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![i5513](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f19dbf/32.png) [@i5513](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/i5513)\
**Post date:** [February 12, 2016, 1:51pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-many-master-nodes-on-a-three-node-cluster-on-elasticsearch/41616/1 "2016-02-12T13:51:43Z")

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Hello,

At [Elasticsearch Resiliency Status | Elastic](https://www.elastic.co/blog/resiliency-elasticsearch) I can read:

> In Elasticsearch, we actively promote the use of dedicated master nodes  
> in critical clusters to make sure that there are 3 nodes whose only role  
> is to be master, a lightweight operational responsibility. By reducing  
> the amount of resource intensive work that these nodes do (no data  
> ingestion or search), we greatly reduce the chance of cluster  
> instability.

But at [Role of dedicated master nodes when not elected](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/role-of-dedicated-master-nodes-when-not-elected/19203) I can read:

> As a followup, any ratio guidelines for indexing nodes vs dedicated  
> masters. From what I can tell, it wouldn't make much sense to run with  
> only one-dedicated master node; if that node goes down, your whole cluster  
> becomes unavailable.

So, how do you configure a 3 node cluster. Are there any priority setting about master election?

May be some like:

at master nodes: master priority 100  
at data nodes: master priority 50

Thank you very much !

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**Author:** ![magnusbaeck](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/magnusbaeck/32/44943_2.png) [@magnusbaeck](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/magnusbaeck)\
**Post date:** [February 12, 2016, 1:53pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-many-master-nodes-on-a-three-node-cluster-on-elasticsearch/41616/2 "2016-02-12T13:53:50Z")

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If you have a cluster with (in total) three nodes you should make all of them master-eligible. I haven't heard of any master priority/preference setting.

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**Author:** ![i5513](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f19dbf/32.png) [@i5513](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/i5513)\
**Post date:** [February 12, 2016, 4:05pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-many-master-nodes-on-a-three-node-cluster-on-elasticsearch/41616/3 "2016-02-12T16:05:17Z")

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Hello,

Then I should balance to that three nodes. We was thinking having a node for máster operation, and two balanced nodes to receive data and execute the searchs (maybe getting master rol as failover)

Thank you, the setup will be easier, not sure the performance

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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 5, 2017, 11:16pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-many-master-nodes-on-a-three-node-cluster-on-elasticsearch/41616/4 "2017-07-05T23:16:50Z")

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