# Increase shards without changing index name

**URL:** https://discuss.elastic.co/t/increase-shards-without-changing-index-name/271409
**Category:** Elasticsearch
**Created:** [April 27, 2021, 4:25pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/increase-shards-without-changing-index-name/271409 "2021-04-27T16:25:01Z")
**Posts on this page:** 5
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![ggio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/51bf81/32.png) [@ggio](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/ggio)
#### Post date: [April 27, 2021, 4:25pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/increase-shards-without-changing-index-name/271409/1 "2021-04-27T16:25:01Z")

</div>

Hi,

I have a couple of indexes which are very big and I want to increase the shards number.  
**Split index API** offered by ES seems to be very interesting and useful for my case but it requires to change the index name.

What is the best practice for increasing shard number without changing index name and index settings?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

### 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: [April 27, 2021, 9:33pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/increase-shards-without-changing-index-name/271409/2 "2021-04-27T21:33:22Z")

</div>

The best practice is to always use aliases.

Then when you change from one index to another, you just have to switch the alias.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![ggio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/51bf81/32.png) [@ggio](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/ggio)
#### Post date: [April 29, 2021, 12:31pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/increase-shards-without-changing-index-name/271409/3 "2021-04-29T12:31:19Z")

</div>

Thanks a lot David, I proceeded as you suggested.  
I noticed that the source index is not deleted after splitting is completed, is this the expected behaviour?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

### 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: [April 29, 2021, 2:11pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/increase-shards-without-changing-index-name/271409/4 "2021-04-29T14:11:28Z")

</div>

Yes. This is expected. You need to do it manually.

---

<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: [May 27, 2021, 2:11pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/increase-shards-without-changing-index-name/271409/5 "2021-05-27T14:11:36Z")

</div>

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