# Reducing number of shards in 6.5 ES
**URL:** https://discuss.elastic.co/t/reducing-number-of-shards-in-6-5-es/245709
**Category:** Elasticsearch
**Created:** [August 20, 2020, 6:05am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/reducing-number-of-shards-in-6-5-es/245709 "2020-08-20T06:05:48Z")
**Posts on this page:** 14
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@divya\_lakshmi](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/divya_lakshmi)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2020, 6:05am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/reducing-number-of-shards-in-6-5-es/245709/1 "2020-08-20T06:05:48Z")
I tried to reduce number of shards in ES 6.5 version from default(5) to 1 using
'PUT \_template/temp\_new1
{
"index\_patterns" : ["test1-\*"],
"settings" : {
"number\_of\_shards" : 1,
"number\_of\_replicas" : 1
}
}'
It worked in single node cluster not in 3-node cluster.
How can i reduce number of shards in my 3 node cluster
---
### Author:  [@warkolm](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/warkolm)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2020, 6:06am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/reducing-number-of-shards-in-6-5-es/245709/2 "2020-08-20T06:06:56Z")
Welcome to our community! 😃
What do you mean by didn't work?
---
### Author:  [@divya\_lakshmi](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/divya_lakshmi)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2020, 6:20am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/reducing-number-of-shards-in-6-5-es/245709/3 "2020-08-20T06:20:22Z")
number of shards did not change for newly created index.
---
### Author:  [@warkolm](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/warkolm)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2020, 6:25am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/reducing-number-of-shards-in-6-5-es/245709/4 "2020-08-20T06:25:16Z")
Can you show the output of `_cat/indices/test*?v` for us?
---
### Author:  [@divya\_lakshmi](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/divya_lakshmi)
#### Post date: [August 20, 2020, 7:39am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/reducing-number-of-shards-in-6-5-es/245709/5 "2020-08-20T07:39:00Z")
> [@warkolm](#):
>
> \_cat/indices/test\*?v
from 3 node cluster
'test1-02 2 p STARTED 0 261b x.x.x.x node-1
test1-02 2 r UNASSIGNED
test1-02 4 p STARTED 0 261b x.x.x.x node-1
test1-02 4 r UNASSIGNED
test1-02 3 p STARTED 0 261b x.x.x.x node-1
test1-02 3 r UNASSIGNED
test1-02 1 p STARTED 0 261b x.x.x.x node-1
test1-02 1 r UNASSIGNED
test1-02 0 p STARTED 0 261b x.x.x.xnode-1
test1-02 0 r UNASSIGNED '
---
### Author:  [@warkolm](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/warkolm)
#### Post date: [August 21, 2020, 1:05am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/reducing-number-of-shards-in-6-5-es/245709/6 "2020-08-21T01:05:37Z")
Thanks.
Were these indices created before or after you added the template?
---
### Author:  [@divya\_lakshmi](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/divya_lakshmi)
#### Post date: [August 21, 2020, 2:49am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/reducing-number-of-shards-in-6-5-es/245709/7 "2020-08-21T02:49:38Z")
after adding template
---
### Author:  [@Christian\_Dahlqvist](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Christian_Dahlqvist)
#### Post date: [August 21, 2020, 3:30am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/reducing-number-of-shards-in-6-5-es/245709/8 "2020-08-21T03:30:49Z")
What does your elasticsearch.yml files look like in your 3- node cluster? Have you got [minimum\_master\_nodes set correctly to avoid split brain scenarios](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/6.8/modules-node.html#split-brain)?
---
### Author:  [@divya\_lakshmi](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/divya_lakshmi)
#### Post date: [August 24, 2020, 9:45am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/reducing-number-of-shards-in-6-5-es/245709/9 "2020-08-24T09:45:27Z")
# ======================== Elasticsearch Configuration =========================
#
# NOTE: Elasticsearch comes with reasonable defaults for most settings.
# Before you set out to tweak and tune the configuration, make sure you
# understand what are you trying to accomplish and the consequences.
#
# The primary way of configuring a node is via this file. This template lists
# the most important settings you may want to configure for a production cluster.
#
# Please consult the documentation for further information on configuration options:
# [https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/index.html](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/index.html)
#
# ---------------------------------- Cluster -----------------------------------
#
# Use a descriptive name for your cluster:
#
#cluster.name: my-application
#
# ------------------------------------ Node ------------------------------------
#
# Use a descriptive name for the node:
#
node.name: node-1
#node.master: true
#node.data: true
#node.ingest: true
#
# Add custom attributes to the node:
#
#node.attr.rack: r1
#
# ----------------------------------- Paths ------------------------------------
#
# Path to directory where to store the data (separate multiple locations by comma):
#
path.data: /var/lib/elasticsearch
#
#
# Path to log files:
#
path.logs: /var/log/elasticsearch
#
# ----------------------------------- Memory -----------------------------------
#
# Lock the memory on startup:
#
#bootstrap.memory\_lock: true
#
# Make sure that the heap size is set to about half the memory available
# on the system and that the owner of the process is allowed to use this
# limit.
#
# Elasticsearch performs poorly when the system is swapping the memory.
#
# ---------------------------------- Network -----------------------------------
#
# Set the bind address to a specific IP (IPv4 or IPv6):
#
network.host: x.x.x.x
#
# Set a custom port for HTTP:
#
http.port: 9200
#
# For more information, consult the network module documentation.
#
# --------------------------------- Discovery ----------------------------------
#
# Pass an initial list of hosts to perform discovery when new node is started:
# The default list of hosts is ["127.0.0.1", "[::1]"]
#
discovery.zen.ping.unicast.hosts: ["x.x.x.x","x.x.x.x","x.x.x.x"]
#
# Prevent the "split brain" by configuring the majority of nodes (total number of master-eligible nodes / 2 + 1):
#
#discovery.zen.minimum\_master\_nodes: 2
#
# For more information, consult the zen discovery module documentation.
#
# ---------------------------------- Gateway -----------------------------------
#
# Block initial recovery after a full cluster restart until N nodes are started:
#
#gateway.recover\_after\_nodes: 3
#
# For more information, consult the gateway module documentation.
#
# ---------------------------------- Various -----------------------------------
#
# Require explicit names when deleting indices:
#
#action.destructive\_requires\_name: true
---
### Author:  [@divya\_lakshmi](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/divya_lakshmi)
#### Post date: [August 24, 2020, 9:50am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/reducing-number-of-shards-in-6-5-es/245709/10 "2020-08-24T09:50:21Z")
No minimum zen nodes have not been set
---
### Author:  [@Christian\_Dahlqvist](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Christian_Dahlqvist)
#### Post date: [August 24, 2020, 10:01am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/reducing-number-of-shards-in-6-5-es/245709/11 "2020-08-24T10:01:37Z")
Then the cluster is not correctly configured which could cause split brain problems. Make sure minimum\_master\_nodes is set to 3 on all nodes and restart.
---
### Author:  [@divya\_lakshmi](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/divya_lakshmi)
#### Post date: [August 24, 2020, 5:26pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/reducing-number-of-shards-in-6-5-es/245709/12 "2020-08-24T17:26:07Z")
Thanks a lot for the solution.Will try it
---
### Author:  [@divya\_lakshmi](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/divya_lakshmi)
#### Post date: [August 26, 2020, 5:17am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/reducing-number-of-shards-in-6-5-es/245709/13 "2020-08-26T05:17:13Z")
> [@Christian\_Dahlqvist](#):
>
> cluster is not correctly configured
Thanks a lot!!!! it worked
---
### Author:  [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)
#### Post date: [September 23, 2020, 5:17am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/reducing-number-of-shards-in-6-5-es/245709/14 "2020-09-23T05:17:16Z")
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