# Shards throughput for a big index? **URL:** \ **Category:** Elasticsearch\ **Created:** [December 2, 2019, 8:18am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/shards-throughput-for-a-big-index/210134 "2019-12-02T08:18:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![shwesinhan](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/shwesinhan/32/78663_2.png) [@shwesinhan](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/shwesinhan)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2019, 8:18am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/shards-throughput-for-a-big-index/210134/1 "2019-12-02T08:18:59Z")
Hi elastic family, Before I ask, let me elaborate my scenario. I centralize the logs to elasticsearch using logstash. And I use monthly indices format. Well it's been working properly. As far as I know, limit of a shard is 50G. At the moment, I use default shards throughput (5-shard in primary, 5-shard in secondary) for an index. I read one post that 35 GB is good for each shard. So I assume 200 GB is suitable for my monthly index. My concern is that if logs become bigger then 200 GB a month, could be 300 GB for example. Do I need to increase shards throughput like (7-shard in primary, 7-shard in secondary)? What should I do? What is the best practice for such scenario? Looking forward to replying... Thanks so much ---
**Author:** ![DavidTurner](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/davidturner/32/22453_2.png) [@DavidTurner](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/DavidTurner)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2019, 11:22am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/shards-throughput-for-a-big-index/210134/2 "2019-12-02T11:22:49Z")
> [@shwesinhan](#): > > As far as I know, limit of a shard is 50G. This is not true, there is no such limit on the size of a shard. It might be a good idea not to let your shards grow too large since larger shards take proportionally longer to recover, and 50GB is a reasonable target size, but it is not a limit. > [@shwesinhan](#): > > What should I do? What is the best practice for such scenario? Use as few primaries as possible (1 is the default in recent versions) and use [ILM](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/index-lifecycle-management.html) to rollover to a new index when it reaches the right size or age. ---
**Author:** ![shwesinhan](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/shwesinhan/32/78663_2.png) [@shwesinhan](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/shwesinhan)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2019, 7:15am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/shards-throughput-for-a-big-index/210134/3 "2019-12-03T07:15:15Z")
Thank you @DavidTurner for correcting my wrong knowledge, and advice. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2019, 7:15am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/shards-throughput-for-a-big-index/210134/4 "2019-12-31T07:15:17Z")
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