# Proper index routing during Shrink in ES 5.5
**URL:** https://discuss.elastic.co/t/proper-index-routing-during-shrink-in-es-5-5/160532
**Category:** Elasticsearch
**Created:** [December 12, 2018, 11:45am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/proper-index-routing-during-shrink-in-es-5-5/160532 "2018-12-12T11:45:48Z")
**Posts on this page:** 2
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@lonzodc](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/lonzodc)
#### Post date: [December 12, 2018, 11:45am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/proper-index-routing-during-shrink-in-es-5-5/160532/1 "2018-12-12T11:45:48Z")
Hi,
I need to run the Shrink API on multiple indices having the default of 5 shards. Shrink will decrease the number of shard from 5 to 1. However, as a prerequisite to the Shrink API, a "index.routing.allocation.require.\_name" is needed to be set. How would I know which node is the best to route the shrunk index to?
Should the shrunk indices be spread across the nodes as equal as possible? There are 4 data nodes. Thanks!
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### Author:  [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)
#### Post date: [January 9, 2019, 11:45am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/proper-index-routing-during-shrink-in-es-5-5/160532/2 "2019-01-09T11:45:53Z")
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