# Index.auto\_expand\_replicas clarification

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/index-auto-expand-replicas-clarification/16247>\
**Category:** Elasticsearch\
**Created:** [March 8, 2014, 10:51am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/index-auto-expand-replicas-clarification/16247 "2014-03-08T10:51:21Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Boris\_Turchik](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/boris_turchik/32/1747_2.png) [@Boris\_Turchik](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Boris_Turchik)\
**Post date:** [March 8, 2014, 10:51am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/index-auto-expand-replicas-clarification/16247/1 "2014-03-08T10:51:21Z")

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Hi,

tried to find the answer but failed, thus decided to give a question a try  
here.  
Generally the question is simple: what goal does the  
index.auto\_expand\_replicas setting serve? From code it looks like if  
current number of index replicas is within the range specified in  
index.auto\_expand\_replicas, cluster is updating index.number\_of\_replicas  
index settings to current number of available replicas.

What's unclear though is:

- how does it act along with index.number\_of\_replicas config setting - are  
indices still automatically replicated to index.number\_of\_replicas if node  
with one of the replicas goes down?
- let's consider the situation when I have index.number\_of\_replicas set to  
3, and index.auto\_expand\_replicas set to "2-5". What would happen if I lose  
one node, so number of active replicas for some index drops to 2. Will it  
be automatically replicated right away or only when I loose another node  
and number of index replicas drops to 1?

Thanks!

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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 6, 2017, 1:44am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/index-auto-expand-replicas-clarification/16247/2 "2017-07-06T01:44:40Z")

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