# Should I give my machines more ram or put a new machine into the cluster?

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/should-i-give-my-machines-more-ram-or-put-a-new-machine-into-the-cluster/164414>\
**Category:** Elasticsearch\
**Created:** [January 16, 2019, 7:46am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/should-i-give-my-machines-more-ram-or-put-a-new-machine-into-the-cluster/164414 "2019-01-16T07:46:16Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![McElroy](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/mcelroy/32/24639_2.png) [@McElroy](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/McElroy)\
**Post date:** [January 16, 2019, 7:46am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/should-i-give-my-machines-more-ram-or-put-a-new-machine-into-the-cluster/164414/1 "2019-01-16T07:46:16Z")

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Hi,

I have a cluster with four data nodes. Those nodes have 6 cpus and 16gb of ram.  
I have 15098 active shards in this cluster.

Should I put more ram in my machines or set up a new host for this cluster?

The problem is that sometimes elasticsearch kills itself because the heap space is running out.

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**Author:** ![dadoonet](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/dadoonet/32/137187_2.png) [@dadoonet](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/dadoonet)\
**Post date:** [January 16, 2019, 8:14am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/should-i-give-my-machines-more-ram-or-put-a-new-machine-into-the-cluster/164414/2 "2019-01-16T08:14:17Z")

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You probably have too many shards per node.

May I suggest you look at the following resources about sizing:

[https://www.elastic.co/elasticon/conf/2016/sf/quantitative-cluster-sizing](https://www.elastic.co/elasticon/conf/2016/sf/quantitative-cluster-sizing)

> **[How many shards should I have in my Elasticsearch cluster?
	  	 | Elastic](https://www.elastic.co/blog/how-many-shards-should-i-have-in-my-elasticsearch-cluster)**
>
> Elasticsearch is a very versatile platform, that supports a variety of use cases, and provides great flexibility around data organisation and replication strategies. This flexibility can however somet...

> **[NetSecureDay: Managing your Black Friday Logs](https://speakerdeck.com/elastic/netsecureday-managing-your-black-friday-logs)**
>
> Surveiller une application complexe n’est pas une tâche aisée, mais avec les bons outils, ce n’est pas si sorcier. Néanmoins, des périodes fortes telles que les opérations de type « Black Friday » (Vendredi noir) ou période de Noël peuvent pousser...

And [https://www.elastic.co/webinars/using-rally-to-get-your-elasticsearch-cluster-size-right](https://www.elastic.co/webinars/using-rally-to-get-your-elasticsearch-cluster-size-right)

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**Author:** ![Christian\_Dahlqvist](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/christian_dahlqvist/32/4617_2.png) [@Christian\_Dahlqvist](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Christian_Dahlqvist)\
**Post date:** [January 16, 2019, 9:09am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/should-i-give-my-machines-more-ram-or-put-a-new-machine-into-the-cluster/164414/3 "2019-01-16T09:09:43Z")

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If you are suffering from heap pressure, I would recommend having a look at [this webinar](https://www.elastic.co/webinars/optimizing-storage-efficiency-in-elasticsearch) in addition to the resources David linked to.

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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:** [February 13, 2019, 9:09am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/should-i-give-my-machines-more-ram-or-put-a-new-machine-into-the-cluster/164414/4 "2019-02-13T09:09:48Z")

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Closed on February 13, 2019, 9:09am UTC

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