# Shard balancing question **URL:** \ **Category:** Elasticsearch\ **Created:** [April 9, 2014, 2:06pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/shard-balancing-question/16898 "2014-04-09T14:06:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 2\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Chris\_Berry\_2](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/chris_berry_2/32/1366_2.png) [@Chris\_Berry\_2](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Chris_Berry_2)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2014, 2:06pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/shard-balancing-question/16898/1 "2014-04-09T14:06:25Z")
Greetings, I have a question about Shard balancing. I have a 5 Node Cluster with a particular Index that has 4 Shards, 1 Replica So 8 Shards total. And when I look at the Index it is allocated as follows; (Note: P=primary, R=replica) Node 1: P0 Node 2: P1, P2, P3 Node 3: Node 4: R0 Node 5: R1, R2, R3 Clearly, this is not well balanced. I was hoping that it would -- over time -- balance to something like this Node 1: P0, Node 2: P1, R3 Node 3: P2, R2 Node 4: P3, R1 Node 5: R0, I've read the doc on cluster allocation, but I don't really see how I can force a more balanced distribution easily. But I am likely missing something.... And also, I worry about fiddling with some of these settings and the adverse effect they may have on reallocation if/when a Node fails. Thank you, -- Chris -- 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/049ee90a-06a5-4325-8a3d-a2a5eb264d2c%40googlegroups.com](https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/elasticsearch/049ee90a-06a5-4325-8a3d-a2a5eb264d2c%40googlegroups.com). For more options, visit [https://groups.google.com/d/optout](https://groups.google.com/d/optout). ---
**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, 1:37am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/shard-balancing-question/16898/2 "2017-07-06T01:37:17Z")