# Limits on number of indices **URL:** \ **Category:** Elasticsearch\ **Created:** [May 10, 2012, 1:51pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/limits-on-number-of-indices/7635 "2012-05-10T13:51:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jay\_2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e79b87/32.png) [@Jay\_2](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Jay_2)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 1:51pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/limits-on-number-of-indices/7635/1 "2012-05-10T13:51:08Z")
Hello all; I am planning to use elasticsearch for user based search purpose.For each user the estimated amount of data to be indexed if of about 10 gb.If i am going to index 10 gb/user then the size of an index would explode exponentially and would give a very poor search performance.So as a solution to this I would plan an index per user architecture. But my real concern in this is How many Indices an elasticsearch can support,if there are 2000 users then there be 2000 indices accordingly. Please reply if this scenario would be of any practical use or should I go for a single index having all data stored of all users in that case size of the index would be tremendous. Thanks; Jay. ---
**Author:** ![Andrew\_at\_DataFeedFi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/0ea827/32.png) [@Andrew\_at\_DataFeedFi](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Andrew_at_DataFeedFi)\ **Post date:** [May 10, 2012, 2:59pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/limits-on-number-of-indices/7635/2 "2012-05-10T14:59:53Z")
Using index a the separator is probably not a good idea. How about using mapping type? for example: /users/user1/... /users/user2/... /users/user3/... We have tested and have index with thousands of mapping types. Works fine... however quite slow to create mapping and elastic head is slower to start also. --Andrew On May 10, 8:51 am, jay [xmea...@gmail.com](mailto:xmea...@gmail.com) wrote: > Hello all; > > I am planning to use elasticsearch for user based search purpose.For > each user the estimated amount of data to be indexed if of about 10 > gb.If i am going to index 10 gb/user then the size of an index would > explode exponentially and would give a very poor search performance.So > as a solution to this I would plan an index per user architecture. > But my real concern in this is How many Indices an elasticsearch can > support,if there are 2000 users then there be 2000 indices > accordingly. > Please reply if this scenario would be of any practical use or should > I go for a single index having all data stored of all users in that > case size of the index would be tremendous. > > Thanks; > Jay. ---
**Author:** ![kimchy](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/kimchy/32/44952_2.png) [@kimchy](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/kimchy)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2012, 9:47am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/limits-on-number-of-indices/7635/3 "2012-05-13T09:47:49Z")
See some answers to that question here: [https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups#!searchin/elasticsearch/data$20flow/elasticsearch/49q-\_AgQCp8/MRol0t9asEcJ](https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups#!searchin/elasticsearch/data$20flow/elasticsearch/49q-_AgQCp8/MRol0t9asEcJ) . On Thu, May 10, 2012 at 4:51 PM, jay [xmeajay@gmail.com](mailto:xmeajay@gmail.com) wrote: > Hello all; > > I am planning to use elasticsearch for user based search purpose.For > each user the estimated amount of data to be indexed if of about 10 > gb.If i am going to index 10 gb/user then the size of an index would > explode exponentially and would give a very poor search performance.So > as a solution to this I would plan an index per user architecture. > But my real concern in this is How many Indices an elasticsearch can > support,if there are 2000 users then there be 2000 indices > accordingly. > Please reply if this scenario would be of any practical use or should > I go for a single index having all data stored of all users in that > case size of the index would be tremendous. > > Thanks; > Jay. ---
**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, 3:29am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/limits-on-number-of-indices/7635/4 "2017-07-06T03:29:07Z")