# Shard balance is by default is confusing, can someone pls explain? **URL:** \ **Category:** Elasticsearch\ **Created:** [July 30, 2024, 12:00pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/shard-balance-is-by-default-is-confusing-can-someone-pls-explain/364048 "2024-07-30T12:00:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 7
**Author:** ![leandrojmp](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/leandrojmp/32/107231_2.png) [@leandrojmp](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/leandrojmp)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2024, 12:32pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/shard-balance-is-by-default-is-confusing-can-someone-pls-explain/364048/7 "2024-08-22T12:32:07Z")
> [@Kathleen\_DeRusso](#): > > I encourage you to read the [documentation](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/modules-cluster.html) that I linked in a previous reply. This states that it's a default value and what modifying it does. I think that the main issue here is that the documentation is not helpful in this case, it just show the defaults but does not explain how they are used, so it is indeed cryptic for end users. This post here in the forum gives a better explanation: [How to correctly determine the weight of a node - #3 by Paul\_Le\_Tilly](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/how-to-correctly-determine-the-weight-of-a-node/224871/3) It was required to look into the code to know how the weight values are used in the calculation. And according to the linked post, this is the formula: > Weight = ShardsLoad \* `cluster.routing.allocation.balance.shard` / SumSettings + IndexLoad \* `cluster.routing.allocation.balance.index` / SumSettings + WriteLoad \* `cluster.routing.allocation.balance.write_load` / SumSettings + DiskLoad \* `cluster.routing.allocation.balance.disk_usage` / SumSettings --- _[View the full topic](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/shard-balance-is-by-default-is-confusing-can-someone-pls-explain/364048)._