# Single shard per index, multiple nodes

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/single-shard-per-index-multiple-nodes/27909>\
**Category:** Elasticsearch\
**Created:** [August 23, 2015, 6:49pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/single-shard-per-index-multiple-nodes/27909 "2015-08-23T18:49:52Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ziv2081](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/d2c977/32.png) [@ziv2081](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/ziv2081)\
**Post date:** [August 23, 2015, 6:49pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/single-shard-per-index-multiple-nodes/27909/1 "2015-08-23T18:49:52Z")

</div>

Hey,

What would happen in this case when I have multiple indices, each with a single shard, and lets say two nodes.

Will the indices be created randomly per node? Will they try to even out? round robin?  
I'm aware of all consequences of this approach, I just want to know what how the cluster handles the index creation and where it decides to put the index.

Thanks,

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![warkolm](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/warkolm/32/39224_2.png) [@warkolm](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/warkolm)\
**Post date:** [August 23, 2015, 9:22pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/single-shard-per-index-multiple-nodes/27909/2 "2015-08-23T21:22:43Z")

</div>

It should even out, but that's dependant on how many indices and nodes you have.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**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, 11:54pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/single-shard-per-index-multiple-nodes/27909/3 "2017-07-05T23:54:19Z")

</div>