### Author:  [@Eran\_Eidinger](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Eran_Eidinger)
#### Post date: [April 3, 2013, 9:16am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/nesting-more-than-one-level-of-child-parent/11427/1 "2013-04-03T09:16:24Z")
I need to index 3 levels (or more) of child-parent.
For example, the levels might be an author, a book, and characters from that book.
However, when indexing more than two-levels there is a problem with has\_child and has\_parent queries and filters.
If I have 5 shards, I get about one fifth of the results when running a "has\_parent" query on the lowest level (characters) or a has\_child query on the second level(books).
My guess is that a book gets indexed to a shard by it's parent id and so will reside together with his parent (author), but a character gets indexed to a shard based on the hash of the book id, which does not necessarily complies with the actual shard the book was indexed on.
And so, this means that all character of books of the same author do not necessarily reside in the same shard (kind of crippling the whole child-parent advantage really).
Am I doing something wrong? How can I resolve this, as I am in real need for complex queries such as "what authors wrote books with female characters" for example.
I mad a gist showing the problem, at:
>
---
### Author:  [@mvg](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/mvg)
#### Post date: [April 3, 2013, 10:00am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/nesting-more-than-one-level-of-child-parent/11427/2 "2013-04-03T10:00:42Z")
If you're indexing mulit-level parent child documents you need to use the
`routing` query string option in addition to the `parent` query string
option. The `routing` will always contain the id of the
first hierarchy level (author in your case). This way all books from the
same author and characters of these books always reside on the same shard.
On 3 April 2013 11:16, eranid [eranid@gmail.com](mailto:eranid@gmail.com) wrote:
> I need to index 3 levels (or more) of child-parent.
> For example, the levels might be an author, a book, and characters from
> that
> book.
>
> However, when indexing more than two-levels there is a problem with
> has\_child and has\_parent queries and filters.
> If I have 5 shards, I get about one fifth of the results when running a
> "has\_parent" query on the lowest level (characters) or a has\_child query on
> the second level(books).
>
> My guess is that a book gets indexed to a shard by it's parent id and so
> will reside together with his parent (author), but a character gets indexed
> to a shard based on the hash of the book id, which does not necessarily
> complies with the actual shard the book was indexed on.
>
> And so, this means that all character of books of the same author do not
> necessarily reside in the same shard (kind of crippling the whole
> child-parent advantage really).
>
> Am I doing something wrong? How can I resolve this, as I am in real need
> for
> complex queries such as "what authors wrote books with female characters"
> for example.
>
> I mad a gist showing the problem, at:
> [Elasticsearch Parent-Child-Grandchild problem · GitHub](https://gist.github.com/eranid/5299628)
>
> --
> View this message in context:
> [http://elasticsearch-users.115913.n3.nabble.com/Nesting-more-than-one-level-of-child-parent-tp4032822.html](http://elasticsearch-users.115913.n3.nabble.com/Nesting-more-than-one-level-of-child-parent-tp4032822.html)
> Sent from the Elasticsearch Users mailing list archive at [Nabble.com](http://Nabble.com).
>
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### Author:  [@Eran\_Eidinger](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Eran_Eidinger)
#### Post date: [April 3, 2013, 12:47pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/nesting-more-than-one-level-of-child-parent/11427/3 "2013-04-03T12:47:05Z")
Great, Thanks a lot.
On Wed, Apr 3, 2013 at 1:01 PM, Martijn v Groningen [via Elasticsearch
Users] [ml-node+s115913n4032827h13@n3.nabble.com](mailto:ml-node+s115913n4032827h13@n3.nabble.com) wrote:
> If you're indexing mulit-level parent child documents you need to use the
> `routing` query string option in addition to the `parent` query string
> option. The `routing` will always contain the id of the
> first hierarchy level (author in your case). This way all books from the
> same author and characters of these books always reside on the same shard.
>
> On 3 April 2013 11:16, eranid \<[hidden email][http://user/SendEmail.jtp?type=node&node=4032827&i=0](http://user/SendEmail.jtp?type=node&node=4032827&i=0)
>
> > wrote:
>
> > I need to index 3 levels (or more) of child-parent.
> > For example, the levels might be an author, a book, and characters from
> > that
> > book.
> >
> > However, when indexing more than two-levels there is a problem with
> > has\_child and has\_parent queries and filters.
> > If I have 5 shards, I get about one fifth of the results when running a
> > "has\_parent" query on the lowest level (characters) or a has\_child query
> > on
> > the second level(books).
> >
> > My guess is that a book gets indexed to a shard by it's parent id and so
> > will reside together with his parent (author), but a character gets
> > indexed
> > to a shard based on the hash of the book id, which does not necessarily
> > complies with the actual shard the book was indexed on.
> >
> > And so, this means that all character of books of the same author do not
> > necessarily reside in the same shard (kind of crippling the whole
> > child-parent advantage really).
> >
> > Am I doing something wrong? How can I resolve this, as I am in real need
> > for
> > complex queries such as "what authors wrote books with female characters"
> > for example.
> >
> > I mad a gist showing the problem, at:
> > [Elasticsearch Parent-Child-Grandchild problem · GitHub](https://gist.github.com/eranid/5299628)
> >
> > --
> > View this message in context:
> > [http://elasticsearch-users.115913.n3.nabble.com/Nesting-more-than-one-level-of-child-parent-tp4032822.html](http://elasticsearch-users.115913.n3.nabble.com/Nesting-more-than-one-level-of-child-parent-tp4032822.html)
> > Sent from the Elasticsearch Users mailing list archive at [Nabble.com](http://Nabble.com).
> >
> > --
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> > .
> > For more options, visit [https://groups.google.com/groups/opt\_out](https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out).
>
> --
> Met vriendelijke groet,
>
> Martijn van Groningen
>
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---
### Author:  [@q42jaap](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/q42jaap)
#### Post date: [April 3, 2013, 6:41pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/nesting-more-than-one-level-of-child-parent/11427/4 "2013-04-03T18:41:09Z")
In the case of books an characters, I could suggest to nest characters in
book documents, but I'm guessing your real application isn't about books 😉
@Martijn, maybe you could add the routing fix to the docs where parent
parameters is explained?
On Apr 3, 2013 2:47 PM, "eranid" [eranid@gmail.com](mailto:eranid@gmail.com) wrote:
> Great, Thanks a lot.
>
> On Wed, Apr 3, 2013 at 1:01 PM, Martijn v Groningen [via Elasticsearch
> Users] \<[hidden email][http://user/SendEmail.jtp?type=node&node=4032831&i=0](http://user/SendEmail.jtp?type=node&node=4032831&i=0)
>
> > wrote:
>
> > If you're indexing mulit-level parent child documents you need to use the
> > `routing` query string option in addition to the `parent` query string
> > option. The `routing` will always contain the id of the
> > first hierarchy level (author in your case). This way all books from the
> > same author and characters of these books always reside on the same shard.
> >
> > On 3 April 2013 11:16, eranid \<[hidden email][http://user/SendEmail.jtp?type=node&node=4032827&i=0](http://user/SendEmail.jtp?type=node&node=4032827&i=0)
> >
> > > wrote:
> >
> > > I need to index 3 levels (or more) of child-parent.
> > > For example, the levels might be an author, a book, and characters from
> > > that
> > > book.
> > >
> > > However, when indexing more than two-levels there is a problem with
> > > has\_child and has\_parent queries and filters.
> > > If I have 5 shards, I get about one fifth of the results when running a
> > > "has\_parent" query on the lowest level (characters) or a has\_child query
> > > on
> > > the second level(books).
> > >
> > > My guess is that a book gets indexed to a shard by it's parent id and so
> > > will reside together with his parent (author), but a character gets
> > > indexed
> > > to a shard based on the hash of the book id, which does not necessarily
> > > complies with the actual shard the book was indexed on.
> > >
> > > And so, this means that all character of books of the same author do not
> > > necessarily reside in the same shard (kind of crippling the whole
> > > child-parent advantage really).
> > >
> > > Am I doing something wrong? How can I resolve this, as I am in real need
> > > for
> > > complex queries such as "what authors wrote books with female characters"
> > > for example.
> > >
> > > I mad a gist showing the problem, at:
> > > [Elasticsearch Parent-Child-Grandchild problem · GitHub](https://gist.github.com/eranid/5299628)
> > >
> > > --
> > > View this message in context:
> > > [http://elasticsearch-users.115913.n3.nabble.com/Nesting-more-than-one-level-of-child-parent-tp4032822.html](http://elasticsearch-users.115913.n3.nabble.com/Nesting-more-than-one-level-of-child-parent-tp4032822.html)
> > > Sent from the Elasticsearch Users mailing list archive at [Nabble.com](http://Nabble.com).
> > >
> > > --
> > > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google
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> > > .
> > > For more options, visit [https://groups.google.com/groups/opt\_out](https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out).
> >
> > --
> > Met vriendelijke groet,
> >
> > Martijn van Groningen
> >
> > --
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> View this message in context: Re: Nesting more than one level of child
> parent[http://elasticsearch-users.115913.n3.nabble.com/Nesting-more-than-one-level-of-child-parent-tp4032822p4032831.html](http://elasticsearch-users.115913.n3.nabble.com/Nesting-more-than-one-level-of-child-parent-tp4032822p4032831.html)
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### Author:  [@mvg](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/mvg)
#### Post date: [April 3, 2013, 7:21pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/nesting-more-than-one-level-of-child-parent/11427/5 "2013-04-03T19:21:42Z")
@Jaap Makes sense, I'll update the docs.
On 3 April 2013 20:41, Jaap Taal [jaap@q42.nl](mailto:jaap@q42.nl) wrote:
> In the case of books an characters, I could suggest to nest characters in
> book documents, but I'm guessing your real application isn't about books 😉
>
> @Martijn, maybe you could add the routing fix to the docs where parent
> parameters is explained?
> On Apr 3, 2013 2:47 PM, "eranid" [eranid@gmail.com](mailto:eranid@gmail.com) wrote:
>
> > Great, Thanks a lot.
> >
> > On Wed, Apr 3, 2013 at 1:01 PM, Martijn v Groningen [via Elasticsearch
> > Users] \<[hidden email][http://user/SendEmail.jtp?type=node&node=4032831&i=0](http://user/SendEmail.jtp?type=node&node=4032831&i=0)
> >
> > > wrote:
> >
> > > If you're indexing mulit-level parent child documents you need to use
> > > the `routing` query string option in addition to the `parent` query string
> > > option. The `routing` will always contain the id of the
> > > first hierarchy level (author in your case). This way all books from the
> > > same author and characters of these books always reside on the same shard.
> > >
> > > On 3 April 2013 11:16, eranid \<[hidden email][http://user/SendEmail.jtp?type=node&node=4032827&i=0](http://user/SendEmail.jtp?type=node&node=4032827&i=0)
> > >
> > > > wrote:
> > >
> > > > I need to index 3 levels (or more) of child-parent.
> > > > For example, the levels might be an author, a book, and characters from
> > > > that
> > > > book.
> > > >
> > > > However, when indexing more than two-levels there is a problem with
> > > > has\_child and has\_parent queries and filters.
> > > > If I have 5 shards, I get about one fifth of the results when running a
> > > > "has\_parent" query on the lowest level (characters) or a has\_child
> > > > query on
> > > > the second level(books).
> > > >
> > > > My guess is that a book gets indexed to a shard by it's parent id and so
> > > > will reside together with his parent (author), but a character gets
> > > > indexed
> > > > to a shard based on the hash of the book id, which does not necessarily
> > > > complies with the actual shard the book was indexed on.
> > > >
> > > > And so, this means that all character of books of the same author do not
> > > > necessarily reside in the same shard (kind of crippling the whole
> > > > child-parent advantage really).
> > > >
> > > > Am I doing something wrong? How can I resolve this, as I am in real
> > > > need for
> > > > complex queries such as "what authors wrote books with female
> > > > characters"
> > > > for example.
> > > >
> > > > I mad a gist showing the problem, at:
> > > > [Elasticsearch Parent-Child-Grandchild problem · GitHub](https://gist.github.com/eranid/5299628)
> > > >
> > > > --
> > > > View this message in context:
> > > > [http://elasticsearch-users.115913.n3.nabble.com/Nesting-more-than-one-level-of-child-parent-tp4032822.html](http://elasticsearch-users.115913.n3.nabble.com/Nesting-more-than-one-level-of-child-parent-tp4032822.html)
> > > > Sent from the Elasticsearch Users mailing list archive at [Nabble.com](http://Nabble.com).
> > > >
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> > > > For more options, visit [https://groups.google.com/groups/opt\_out](https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out).
> > >
> > > --
> > > Met vriendelijke groet,
> > >
> > > Martijn van Groningen
> > >
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> >
> > View this message in context: Re: Nesting more than one level of child
> > parent[http://elasticsearch-users.115913.n3.nabble.com/Nesting-more-than-one-level-of-child-parent-tp4032822p4032831.html](http://elasticsearch-users.115913.n3.nabble.com/Nesting-more-than-one-level-of-child-parent-tp4032822p4032831.html)
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---
### Author:  [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)
#### Post date: [July 6, 2017, 2:42am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/nesting-more-than-one-level-of-child-parent/11427/6 "2017-07-06T02:42:58Z")