Is there a limit as to how many documents a single index can have?

[patrickian]

I'm new to Elasticsearch and I'm wondering as to how many documents I can have in a single index. I'm looking to have around 60-120 million documents of a single type in a single index. Are the documents stored in the disk?

While we're at it, as per what I've read in the documentation, I should not allocate more than 1/4 of my RAM to Elasticsearch. When does Elasticsearch use the RAM? While querying? If so, would having 2-3 nodes in the same cluster help during memory intensive processes?

[warkolm (Mark Walkom)]

@patrickian

I'm wondering as to how many documents I can have in a single index

Two billion.

@patrickian

Are the documents stored in the disk?

Yes.

@patrickian

I should not allocate more than 1/4 of my RAM to Elasticsearch

1/2, yes.

@patrickian

When does Elasticsearch use the RAM?

It's a JVM process, so pretty much as soon as you start it.

@patrickian

would having 2-3 nodes in the same cluster help during memory intensive processes?

Yes definitely.

[patrickian]

Many thanks for your response.