# Shards per index in single node cluster

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/shards-per-index-in-single-node-cluster/36974>\
**Category:** Elasticsearch\
**Created:** [December 11, 2015, 11:39am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/shards-per-index-in-single-node-cluster/36974 "2015-12-11T11:39:36Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![dimitris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/db5fbb/32.png) [@dimitris](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/dimitris)\
**Post date:** [December 11, 2015, 11:39am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/shards-per-index-in-single-node-cluster/36974/1 "2015-12-11T11:39:36Z")

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In the elasticsearch.yml file in 1.x.x series there used to be a recommendation for setting index.number\_of\_shards to 1 for single-node clusters. The setting and the recommendation is not there any more in 2.1.0. Is there a reason for that?

In my experience with 1.x.x, multiple shards per index in single node cluster had performance overheads (both speed and memory). But it appears that, at least speed-wise, in 2.1.0 that is not the case. Having one shard per index is significantly slower than 1.x.x. But falling back to default (5 shards per index) speeds it up significantly.

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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, 11:31pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/shards-per-index-in-single-node-cluster/36974/2 "2017-07-05T23:31:49Z")

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