# New feature request? Automatic index scaling using aliases without over-allocations **URL:** \ **Category:** Elasticsearch\ **Created:** [June 12, 2013, 7:52am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/new-feature-request-automatic-index-scaling-using-aliases-without-over-allocations/12371 "2013-06-12T07:52:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lukas\_Vlcek1](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/lukas_vlcek1/32/819_2.png) [@Lukas\_Vlcek1](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Lukas_Vlcek1)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2013, 7:52am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/new-feature-request-automatic-index-scaling-using-aliases-without-over-allocations/12371/1 "2013-06-12T07:52:36Z")
Hi, I am thinking about index scaling strategy via aliases but do not think it is currently fully supported by ES in automatic way in all aspects. May be this can be a reasonable use case and it leads to a new feature requests. Let me explain: Imagine a situation where you know that you need to create an index with more shards (20-40, or even more...). The primary reason is not that your index will be huge, but because you have limited resources per node (RAM, disk size, ... etc). So you need your index to be distributed over "flat" machines. Getting more resource per node is impossible, but getting a lot of nodes is much easier. So to spread indices across such cluster, you would need to over-allocate in advance. Or use aliases (I will get to this point later). Now, over-allocation is not always a good solution, especially, if you (again) have limited resources, like available file descriptors. Because over-allocation means that when you create the index, all the shards are in the beginning allocated to a single node, though they might be very quickly re-allocated to different nodes, the resources peak associated with a single over-allocated index creation can be above available limits. The same apply to the situation when your cluster shrinks, more index shards are moved to a single node. In "normal" situation, this may not be a bit deal but if you do not have enough resources per node then I think it is much better to hit red health cluster status over Java exceptions (like too many files open.. etc). The other option can be using index aliases. Now the problem with aliases is they have to be managed by client. I think it might make sense to think about different kind of aliases that could work in more automated way. Let me think out loud: - I could say in the index template, that if index meets specific condition (for example based on regex match of index name) it can be assigned an alias automatically (this should be perfectly doable, no?) - When indexing against alias name (not possible across more indices now, right?) then if indices share the same type, it could perfectly index into that type in one of the matching indices. Why not? (Probably the child/parent needs to take this into account - still doable?) - Is there any problem with deletes? - Can I setup the upper limit of how many shards can be allocated per single node? With these it would be possible to start a small index with just few shards. And grow and shrink it as needed without the risk of hitting system level limitations, of course I could hit red cluster health status, but that is a different story and perfectly acceptable. Thoughts? Regards, Lukas -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "elasticsearch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com](mailto:elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com). For more options, visit [https://groups.google.com/groups/opt\_out](https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out). ---
**Author:** ![Lukas\_Vlcek1](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/lukas_vlcek1/32/819_2.png) [@Lukas\_Vlcek1](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Lukas_Vlcek1)\ **Post date:** [June 12, 2013, 10:32am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/new-feature-request-automatic-index-scaling-using-aliases-without-over-allocations/12371/2 "2013-06-12T10:32:27Z")
> - Can I setup the upper limit of how many shards can be allocated per > single node? Seems this is already implemented: [Elasticsearch Platform — Find real-time answers at scale | Elastic](http://www.elasticsearch.org/guide/reference/index-modules/allocation/)(Total Shards per Node) -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "elasticsearch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com](mailto:elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com). For more options, visit [https://groups.google.com/groups/opt\_out](https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out). ---
**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, 2:31am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/new-feature-request-automatic-index-scaling-using-aliases-without-over-allocations/12371/3 "2017-07-06T02:31:39Z")
Closed on July 6, 2017, 2:31am UTC