# Question on size of query request **URL:** \ **Category:** Elasticsearch\ **Created:** [March 2, 2014, 8:17pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/question-on-size-of-query-request/16091 "2014-03-02T20:17:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Amit\_Soni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c0e974/32.png) [@Amit\_Soni](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Amit_Soni)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2014, 8:17pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/question-on-size-of-query-request/16091/1 "2014-03-02T20:17:22Z")
Hi everyone - I have a very basic question. I am just wondering, in a system which is supposed to handle high traffic, how important is the size of the request (json request) when it comes to performance. For instance: earlier the size of my json request was ~ 600 characters. After I added the names of the few fields which I wanted to explicitly search on, the request size increased to ~1000 characters. Would this impact the query response time (although I haven't seen anything weird so far)? Would you recommend keeping the size of query request to absolute minimum? -Amit. -- 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). To view this discussion on the web visit [https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/elasticsearch/CAAOGaQ%2B%3Dv5tZA3oOyPi%2B\_uxY-pc2%3D%3DAOffh7oFykqDQeMUKmpQ%40mail.gmail.com](https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/elasticsearch/CAAOGaQ%2B%3Dv5tZA3oOyPi%2B_uxY-pc2%3D%3DAOffh7oFykqDQeMUKmpQ%40mail.gmail.com). For more options, visit [https://groups.google.com/groups/opt\_out](https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out). ---
**Author:** ![spinscale](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/spinscale/32/25011_2.png) [@spinscale](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/spinscale)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2014, 7:58am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/question-on-size-of-query-request/16091/2 "2014-03-03T07:58:09Z")
Hey, the size if your requests is most likely very dependent on what you do. If you write a complex query and it results in 10kb JSON, but you really need this query to be fired, there is no way around it. Same goes for indexing - a document is as big as a document is, not too much possibility to optimize it. On the elasticsearch side the request gets streamed using the jackson library to prevent creation of huge request objects in memory. I think your question hides another question, which I am not able to extract. From my experience it is not about request size, but about the request your are sending. You can create awful slow queries with a small request or very fast ones with a larger one. This should not be a factor in your calculations. Maybe you can elaborate a bit more why exactly you are worried about... You should not think in terms of requests, but rather in terms of needed functionality to put inside a request to get a requirement done. --Alex On Sun, Mar 2, 2014 at 9:17 PM, Amit Soni [amitsoni29@gmail.com](mailto:amitsoni29@gmail.com) wrote: > Hi everyone - I have a very basic question. I am just wondering, in a > system which is supposed to handle high traffic, how important is the size > of the request (json request) when it comes to performance. > > For instance: earlier the size of my json request was ~ 600 characters. > After I added the names of the few fields which I wanted to explicitly > search on, the request size increased to ~1000 characters. > > Would this impact the query response time (although I haven't seen > anything weird so far)? Would you recommend keeping the size of query > request to absolute minimum? > > -Amit. > > -- > 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). > To view this discussion on the web visit > [https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/elasticsearch/CAAOGaQ%2B%3Dv5tZA3oOyPi%2B\_uxY-pc2%3D%3DAOffh7oFykqDQeMUKmpQ%40mail.gmail.com](https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/elasticsearch/CAAOGaQ%2B%3Dv5tZA3oOyPi%2B_uxY-pc2%3D%3DAOffh7oFykqDQeMUKmpQ%40mail.gmail.com) > . > For more options, visit [https://groups.google.com/groups/opt\_out](https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out). -- 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). To view this discussion on the web visit [https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/elasticsearch/CAGCwEM-T-HtzguJt02qch\_Rs2ymFZTDjNFQod-C8kgqvQSGxaQ%40mail.gmail.com](https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/elasticsearch/CAGCwEM-T-HtzguJt02qch_Rs2ymFZTDjNFQod-C8kgqvQSGxaQ%40mail.gmail.com). For more options, visit [https://groups.google.com/groups/opt\_out](https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out). ---
**Author:** ![Amit\_Soni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c0e974/32.png) [@Amit\_Soni](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Amit_Soni)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2014, 8:44am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/question-on-size-of-query-request/16091/3 "2014-03-03T08:44:33Z")
Hi Alex - Thanks for the responses. Let me provided a little more detail. Earlier I was querying just on "\_all" field. Then I realized that different fields have been indexed differently and hence just querying \_all will not suffice. Hence I have started sending the list of all the fields (which need to be queried) as an array and this translated to ~15 fields (which look a lot to me). So I am just wondering whether this change will make an impact to the performance. "simple\_query\_string" : { "query" : "customer", "fields" : ["field1", "field2", "field3",..............], "default\_operator" : "and" } _Secondly_, I am using term filter and it has something like below and my filters are all strings. I am wondering whether I should convert my strings (there are only 30 distinct possible values) to integer constants since they would take less space. "terms" : { "type" : [ "filter\_str1", "filter\_str2", "filter\_str3",............................ ] } Does this help? Thoughts? -Amit. On Sun, Mar 2, 2014 at 11:58 PM, Alexander Reelsen [alr@spinscale.de](mailto:alr@spinscale.de) wrote: > Hey, > > the size if your requests is most likely very dependent on what you do. If > you write a complex query and it results in 10kb JSON, but you really need > this query to be fired, there is no way around it. Same goes for indexing - > a document is as big as a document is, not too much possibility to optimize > it. On the elasticsearch side the request gets streamed using the jackson > library to prevent creation of huge request objects in memory. > > I think your question hides another question, which I am not able to > extract. From my experience it is not about request size, but about the > request your are sending. You can create awful slow queries with a small > request or very fast ones with a larger one. This should not be a factor in > your calculations. > > Maybe you can elaborate a bit more why exactly you are worried about... > You should not think in terms of requests, but rather in terms of needed > functionality to put inside a request to get a requirement done. > > --Alex > > On Sun, Mar 2, 2014 at 9:17 PM, Amit Soni [amitsoni29@gmail.com](mailto:amitsoni29@gmail.com) wrote: > > > Hi everyone - I have a very basic question. I am just wondering, in a > > system which is supposed to handle high traffic, how important is the size > > of the request (json request) when it comes to performance. > > > > For instance: earlier the size of my json request was ~ 600 characters. > > After I added the names of the few fields which I wanted to explicitly > > search on, the request size increased to ~1000 characters. > > > > Would this impact the query response time (although I haven't seen > > anything weird so far)? Would you recommend keeping the size of query > > request to absolute minimum? > > > > -Amit. > > > > -- > > 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). > > To view this discussion on the web visit > > [https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/elasticsearch/CAAOGaQ%2B%3Dv5tZA3oOyPi%2B\_uxY-pc2%3D%3DAOffh7oFykqDQeMUKmpQ%40mail.gmail.com](https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/elasticsearch/CAAOGaQ%2B%3Dv5tZA3oOyPi%2B_uxY-pc2%3D%3DAOffh7oFykqDQeMUKmpQ%40mail.gmail.com) > > . > > For more options, visit [https://groups.google.com/groups/opt\_out](https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out). > > -- > 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). > To view this discussion on the web visit > [https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/elasticsearch/CAGCwEM-T-HtzguJt02qch\_Rs2ymFZTDjNFQod-C8kgqvQSGxaQ%40mail.gmail.com](https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/elasticsearch/CAGCwEM-T-HtzguJt02qch_Rs2ymFZTDjNFQod-C8kgqvQSGxaQ%40mail.gmail.com) > . > For more options, visit [https://groups.google.com/groups/opt\_out](https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out). -- 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). To view this discussion on the web visit [https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/elasticsearch/CAAOGaQ%2B0P2Zq031i96BPaosG5%3D7GWmTWU%3DnR58%3D3aizoSoq5HA%40mail.gmail.com](https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/elasticsearch/CAAOGaQ%2B0P2Zq031i96BPaosG5%3D7GWmTWU%3DnR58%3D3aizoSoq5HA%40mail.gmail.com). For more options, visit [https://groups.google.com/groups/opt\_out](https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out). ---
**Author:** ![Binh\_Ly\_2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d07c76/32.png) [@Binh\_Ly\_2](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Binh_Ly_2)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2014, 8:28pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/question-on-size-of-query-request/16091/4 "2014-03-03T20:28:53Z")
I think you'll be fine. I think that this should be the last thing to think of doing anything about. I would be more concerned about whether what is inside your query is optimized or not like Alex already mentioned. -- 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). To view this discussion on the web visit [https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/elasticsearch/6a2a8405-2dc4-493f-b521-c9f9e1b0dd36%40googlegroups.com](https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/elasticsearch/6a2a8405-2dc4-493f-b521-c9f9e1b0dd36%40googlegroups.com). For more options, visit [https://groups.google.com/groups/opt\_out](https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out). ---
**Author:** ![Amit\_Soni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c0e974/32.png) [@Amit\_Soni](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Amit_Soni)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2014, 3:15am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/question-on-size-of-query-request/16091/5 "2014-03-04T03:15:18Z")
Sounds good, thanks Binh and Alex! -Amit. On Mon, Mar 3, 2014 at 12:28 PM, Binh Ly [binhly\_es@yahoo.com](mailto:binhly_es@yahoo.com) wrote: > I think you'll be fine. I think that this should be the last thing to > think of doing anything about. I would be more concerned about whether what > is inside your query is optimized or not like Alex already mentioned. > > -- > 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). > To view this discussion on the web visit > [https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/elasticsearch/6a2a8405-2dc4-493f-b521-c9f9e1b0dd36%40googlegroups.com](https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/elasticsearch/6a2a8405-2dc4-493f-b521-c9f9e1b0dd36%40googlegroups.com) > . > > For more options, visit [https://groups.google.com/groups/opt\_out](https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out). -- 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). To view this discussion on the web visit [https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/elasticsearch/CAAOGaQKY5TyiHKRua9FLO4v7g6yG4NSkp%3DO0q\_Q0wTtJhuCg4Q%40mail.gmail.com](https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/elasticsearch/CAAOGaQKY5TyiHKRua9FLO4v7g6yG4NSkp%3DO0q_Q0wTtJhuCg4Q%40mail.gmail.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, 1:45am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/question-on-size-of-query-request/16091/6 "2017-07-06T01:45:57Z")