# Query latency spikes and Open search contexts

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/query-latency-spikes-and-open-search-contexts/39172>\
**Category:** Elasticsearch\
**Created:** [January 14, 2016, 12:21am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/query-latency-spikes-and-open-search-contexts/39172 "2016-01-14T00:21:12Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![mkelkar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ea666f/32.png) [@mkelkar](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/mkelkar)\
**Post date:** [January 14, 2016, 12:21am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/query-latency-spikes-and-open-search-contexts/39172/1 "2016-01-14T00:21:12Z")

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Hi All,  
Lately we are seeing latency spikes in production for our queries. We also see  
a spike in the number of open search contexts ( it shoots to around 2000 from 400 ). We are using  
ES 1.3.9 and it recovers on its own after about 5 minutes. There are no scan/scrolls being used,  
so its surprising to see a spike in open search contexts...any clues on why this may be happening?

Thanks,  
Madhav.

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**Author:** ![warkolm](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/warkolm/32/39224_2.png) [@warkolm](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/warkolm)\
**Post date:** [January 14, 2016, 6:18am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/query-latency-spikes-and-open-search-contexts/39172/2 "2016-01-14T06:18:08Z")

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Are you monitoring things, eg with Marvel or something?  
Have you checked your ES logs for GC or anything else?

> [@mkelkar](#):
>
> We are usingES 1.3.9

Upgrade!

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**Author:** ![mkelkar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ea666f/32.png) [@mkelkar](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/mkelkar)\
**Post date:** [January 14, 2016, 7:34pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/query-latency-spikes-and-open-search-contexts/39172/3 "2016-01-14T19:34:35Z")

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We are monitoring our ES closely...but so far haven't found much that would help. Any ideas on specific metrics to monitor are most welcome...

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**Author:** ![warkolm](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/warkolm/32/39224_2.png) [@warkolm](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/warkolm)\
**Post date:** [January 14, 2016, 9:32pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/query-latency-spikes-and-open-search-contexts/39172/4 "2016-01-14T21:32:01Z")

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Incoming indexing and search requests would be two immediate ones.

Also, upgrade.

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**Author:** ![mkelkar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ea666f/32.png) [@mkelkar](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/mkelkar)\
**Post date:** [January 15, 2016, 3:06pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/query-latency-spikes-and-open-search-contexts/39172/5 "2016-01-15T15:06:59Z")

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Thanks Mark!

We are considering upgrade path to 1.7.3 and then to 2.1.1. just curious, are there any changes with respect to search contexts in versions beyond 1.4.X?

Thanks,  
Madhav.

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**Author:** ![warkolm](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/warkolm/32/39224_2.png) [@warkolm](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/warkolm)\
**Post date:** [January 15, 2016, 11:59pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/query-latency-spikes-and-open-search-contexts/39172/6 "2016-01-15T23:59:05Z")

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There's a few when you hit 2.X, make sure you run the migration plugin and read breaking changes 🙂

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**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\
**Post date:** [July 5, 2017, 11:23pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/query-latency-spikes-and-open-search-contexts/39172/7 "2017-07-05T23:23:55Z")

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