# Sizing RAM vs DISK **URL:** \ **Category:** Elasticsearch\ **Created:** [January 18, 2012, 11:20am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/sizing-ram-vs-disk/6429 "2012-01-18T11:20:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Stanislas\_Polu](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/stanislas_polu/32/2873_2.png) [@Stanislas\_Polu](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Stanislas_Polu)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2012, 11:20am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/sizing-ram-vs-disk/6429/1 "2012-01-18T11:20:38Z")
Hi, After stuffing a large amount of data into a pre-production cluster made of 7 shards, replication 1 on 3 machines, I have a better understanding of how my index will grow. What I am still missing is how much memory vs disk space I'm supposed to provision for acceptable performance. Is there any rule of thumb here? Best, -stan -- Stanislas Polu Mo: +33 6 83 71 90 04 | Tw: @spolu | [http://teleportd.com](http://teleportd.com) | Realtime Photo Search ---
**Author:** ![Stanislas\_Polu](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/stanislas_polu/32/2873_2.png) [@Stanislas\_Polu](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Stanislas_Polu)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2012, 12:53pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/sizing-ram-vs-disk/6429/2 "2012-01-18T12:53:00Z")
I'm using a disk based index with local gateway -stan -- Stanislas Polu Mo: +33 6 83 71 90 04 | Tw: @spolu | [http://teleportd.com](http://teleportd.com) | Realtime Photo Search On Wed, Jan 18, 2012 at 12:20 PM, Stanislas Polu [polu.stanislas@gmail.com](mailto:polu.stanislas@gmail.com)wrote: > Hi, > > After stuffing a large amount of data into a pre-production cluster made > of 7 shards, replication 1 on 3 machines, I have a better understanding of > how my index will grow. > What I am still missing is how much memory vs disk space I'm supposed to > provision for acceptable performance. > > Is there any rule of thumb here? > > Best, > > -stan > > -- > Stanislas Polu > Mo: +33 6 83 71 90 04 | Tw: @spolu | [http://teleportd.com](http://teleportd.com) | Realtime > Photo Search ---
**Author:** ![Karussell1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/50afbb/32.png) [@Karussell1](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Karussell1)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2012, 1:09pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/sizing-ram-vs-disk/6429/3 "2012-01-18T13:09:25Z")
What do you mean with disc size? You'll need as many GB for disc as you have documents 🙂 so it depends on your documents + document count ... Regarding the RAM try to use only the half of the maximum RAM of the system, so that the OS cache can be used. Peter. On 18 Jan., 13:53, Stanislas Polu [polu.stanis...@gmail.com](mailto:polu.stanis...@gmail.com) wrote: > I'm using a disk based index with local gateway > > -stan > > -- > Stanislas Polu > Mo: +33 6 83 71 90 04 | Tw: @spolu |[http://teleportd.com|](http://teleportd.com%7C) Realtime Photo > Search > > On Wed, Jan 18, 2012 at 12:20 PM, Stanislas Polu > [polu.stanis...@gmail.com](mailto:polu.stanis...@gmail.com)wrote: > > > Hi, > > > After stuffing a large amount of data into a pre-production cluster made > > of 7 shards, replication 1 on 3 machines, I have a better understanding of > > how my index will grow. > > What I am still missing is how much memory vs disk space I'm supposed to > > provision for acceptable performance. > > > Is there any rule of thumb here? > > > Best, > > > -stan > > > -- > > Stanislas Polu > > Mo: +33 6 83 71 90 04 | Tw: @spolu |[http://teleportd.com|](http://teleportd.com%7C) Realtime > > Photo Search ---
**Author:** ![Stanislas\_Polu](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/stanislas_polu/32/2873_2.png) [@Stanislas\_Polu](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Stanislas_Polu)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2012, 1:34pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/sizing-ram-vs-disk/6429/4 "2012-01-18T13:34:16Z")
Agreed for the disk. Thanks for the clarification + advise on the RAM. - Does the \_status indices.xxx.index.size include everything? - Does more RAM mean better perf? -stan -- Stanislas Polu Mo: +33 6 83 71 90 04 | Tw: @spolu | [http://teleportd.com](http://teleportd.com) | Realtime Photo Search On Wed, Jan 18, 2012 at 2:09 PM, Karussell [tableyourtime@googlemail.com](mailto:tableyourtime@googlemail.com)wrote: > What do you mean with disc size? You'll need as many GB for disc as > you have documents 🙂 so it depends on your documents + document > count ... > > Regarding the RAM try to use only the half of the maximum RAM of the > system, so that the OS cache can be used. > > Peter. > > On 18 Jan., 13:53, Stanislas Polu [polu.stanis...@gmail.com](mailto:polu.stanis...@gmail.com) wrote: > > > I'm using a disk based index with local gateway > > > > -stan > > > > -- > > Stanislas Polu > > Mo: +33 6 83 71 90 04 | Tw: @spolu |[http://teleportd.com|](http://teleportd.com%7C) Realtime Photo > > Search > > > > On Wed, Jan 18, 2012 at 12:20 PM, Stanislas Polu > > [polu.stanis...@gmail.com](mailto:polu.stanis...@gmail.com)wrote: > > > > > Hi, > > > > > After stuffing a large amount of data into a pre-production cluster > > > made > > > of 7 shards, replication 1 on 3 machines, I have a better > > > understanding of > > > how my index will grow. > > > What I am still missing is how much memory vs disk space I'm supposed > > > to > > > provision for acceptable performance. > > > > > Is there any rule of thumb here? > > > > > Best, > > > > > -stan > > > > > -- > > > Stanislas Polu > > > Mo: +33 6 83 71 90 04 | Tw: @spolu |[http://teleportd.com|](http://teleportd.com%7C) Realtime > > > Photo Search ---
**Author:** ![kimchy](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/kimchy/32/44952_2.png) [@kimchy](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/kimchy)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2012, 9:24pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/sizing-ram-vs-disk/6429/5 "2012-01-18T21:24:02Z")
Use node stats to see where memory is spent. Mainly look at field data cache (sort and facet related) and the jvm memory used. This will give you an indication if you are running low on memory. Use bigdesk plugin to visualize it. On Wed, Jan 18, 2012 at 3:34 PM, Stanislas Polu [polu.stanislas@gmail.com](mailto:polu.stanislas@gmail.com)wrote: > Agreed for the disk. Thanks for the clarification + advise on the RAM. > > - Does the \_status indices.xxx.index.size include everything? > - Does more RAM mean better perf? > > -stan > > -- > Stanislas Polu > Mo: +33 6 83 71 90 04 | Tw: @spolu | [http://teleportd.com](http://teleportd.com) | Realtime > Photo Search > > On Wed, Jan 18, 2012 at 2:09 PM, Karussell [tableyourtime@googlemail.com](mailto:tableyourtime@googlemail.com)wrote: > > > What do you mean with disc size? You'll need as many GB for disc as > > you have documents 🙂 so it depends on your documents + document > > count ... > > > > Regarding the RAM try to use only the half of the maximum RAM of the > > system, so that the OS cache can be used. > > > > Peter. > > > > On 18 Jan., 13:53, Stanislas Polu [polu.stanis...@gmail.com](mailto:polu.stanis...@gmail.com) wrote: > > > > > I'm using a disk based index with local gateway > > > > > > -stan > > > > > > -- > > > Stanislas Polu > > > Mo: +33 6 83 71 90 04 | Tw: @spolu |[http://teleportd.com|](http://teleportd.com%7C) Realtime > > > Photo > > > Search > > > > > > On Wed, Jan 18, 2012 at 12:20 PM, Stanislas Polu > > > [polu.stanis...@gmail.com](mailto:polu.stanis...@gmail.com)wrote: > > > > > > > Hi, > > > > > > > After stuffing a large amount of data into a pre-production cluster > > > > made > > > > of 7 shards, replication 1 on 3 machines, I have a better > > > > understanding of > > > > how my index will grow. > > > > What I am still missing is how much memory vs disk space I'm supposed > > > > to > > > > provision for acceptable performance. > > > > > > > Is there any rule of thumb here? > > > > > > > Best, > > > > > > > -stan > > > > > > > -- > > > > Stanislas Polu > > > > Mo: +33 6 83 71 90 04 | Tw: @spolu |[http://teleportd.com|](http://teleportd.com%7C) Realtime > > > > Photo Search ---
**Author:** ![Stanislas\_Polu](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/stanislas_polu/32/2873_2.png) [@Stanislas\_Polu](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Stanislas_Polu)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2012, 9:38pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/sizing-ram-vs-disk/6429/6 "2012-01-18T21:38:32Z")
Thanks! bigdesk is awesome. Cheers, -stan -- Stanislas Polu Mo: +33 6 83 71 90 04 | Tw: @spolu | [http://teleportd.com](http://teleportd.com) | Realtime Photo Search On Wed, Jan 18, 2012 at 10:24 PM, Shay Banon [kimchy@gmail.com](mailto:kimchy@gmail.com) wrote: > Use node stats to see where memory is spent. Mainly look at field data > cache (sort and facet related) and the jvm memory used. This will give you > an indication if you are running low on memory. Use bigdesk plugin to > visualize it. > > On Wed, Jan 18, 2012 at 3:34 PM, Stanislas Polu [polu.stanislas@gmail.com](mailto:polu.stanislas@gmail.com)wrote: > > > Agreed for the disk. Thanks for the clarification + advise on the RAM. > > > > - Does the \_status indices.xxx.index.size include everything? > > - Does more RAM mean better perf? > > > > -stan > > > > -- > > Stanislas Polu > > Mo: +33 6 83 71 90 04 | Tw: @spolu | [http://teleportd.com](http://teleportd.com) | Realtime > > Photo Search > > > > On Wed, Jan 18, 2012 at 2:09 PM, Karussell [tableyourtime@googlemail.com](mailto:tableyourtime@googlemail.com)wrote: > > > > > What do you mean with disc size? You'll need as many GB for disc as > > > you have documents 🙂 so it depends on your documents + document > > > count ... > > > > > > Regarding the RAM try to use only the half of the maximum RAM of the > > > system, so that the OS cache can be used. > > > > > > Peter. > > > > > > On 18 Jan., 13:53, Stanislas Polu [polu.stanis...@gmail.com](mailto:polu.stanis...@gmail.com) wrote: > > > > > > > I'm using a disk based index with local gateway > > > > > > > > -stan > > > > > > > > -- > > > > Stanislas Polu > > > > Mo: +33 6 83 71 90 04 | Tw: @spolu |[http://teleportd.com|](http://teleportd.com%7C) Realtime > > > > Photo > > > > Search > > > > > > > > On Wed, Jan 18, 2012 at 12:20 PM, Stanislas Polu > > > > [polu.stanis...@gmail.com](mailto:polu.stanis...@gmail.com)wrote: > > > > > > > > > Hi, > > > > > > > > > After stuffing a large amount of data into a pre-production cluster > > > > > made > > > > > of 7 shards, replication 1 on 3 machines, I have a better > > > > > understanding of > > > > > how my index will grow. > > > > > What I am still missing is how much memory vs disk space I'm > > > > > supposed to > > > > > provision for acceptable performance. > > > > > > > > > Is there any rule of thumb here? > > > > > > > > > Best, > > > > > > > > > -stan > > > > > > > > > -- > > > > > Stanislas Polu > > > > > Mo: +33 6 83 71 90 04 | Tw: @spolu |[http://teleportd.com|](http://teleportd.com%7C) Realtime > > > > > Photo Search ---
**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, 3:42am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/sizing-ram-vs-disk/6429/7 "2017-07-06T03:42:12Z")