# If I reduce the number in "ignore\_above" will I use less disk space?

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/if-i-reduce-the-number-in-ignore-above-will-i-use-less-disk-space/261855>\
**Category:** Elasticsearch\
**Created:** [January 21, 2021, 9:14pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/if-i-reduce-the-number-in-ignore-above-will-i-use-less-disk-space/261855 "2021-01-21T21:14:21Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ElasticLiver](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/elasticliver/32/64869_2.png) [@ElasticLiver](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/ElasticLiver)\
**Post date:** [January 21, 2021, 9:14pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/if-i-reduce-the-number-in-ignore-above-will-i-use-less-disk-space/261855/1 "2021-01-21T21:14:21Z")

</div>

Hi, I have an APM span index, and I realize that in the mapping the "ignore\_above" is set to 1024, I was wandering if I change some of this setting I can use less disk space.  
for example in agent.name, the longest value in this field has 10 characters

![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/0/5/05f50fcd6eee1344c1c79a11e55509f3e7f2bdd5.png)

What do you think?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![mayya](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/mayya/32/83147_2.png) [@mayya](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/mayya)\
**Post date:** [January 21, 2021, 11:28pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/if-i-reduce-the-number-in-ignore-above-will-i-use-less-disk-space/261855/2 "2021-01-21T23:28:45Z")

</div>

`ignore_above` of 1024 for `agent.name` means that if a document contains a field `agent.name` with a value that is bigger than 1024 characters, this field will ignored and will not be indexed, as though this document doesn't have a field `agent.name` (the source will still be saved in the original format).

If all values of your `agent.name` have less than 10 characters, changing `ignore_above` for anything less than 10 characters will have no effect. If you change it to 9 characters, fields that have values bigger than 9 will be ignored, not indexed and you will save space there at the expense that you will not be able search by `agent.name` for these documents.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\
**Post date:** [February 18, 2021, 11:28pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/if-i-reduce-the-number-in-ignore-above-will-i-use-less-disk-space/261855/3 "2021-02-18T23:28:46Z")

</div>

This topic was automatically closed 28 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.