# The limit of Data stream

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/the-limit-of-data-stream/320255>\
**Category:** Elasticsearch\
**Tags:** datastreams\
**Created:** [December 1, 2022, 2:34pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/the-limit-of-data-stream/320255 "2022-12-01T14:34:31Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![2019240081](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/2019240081/32/107281_2.png) [@2019240081](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/2019240081)\
**Post date:** [December 1, 2022, 2:34pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/the-limit-of-data-stream/320255/1 "2022-12-01T14:34:31Z")

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I had to choose between data stream and index strategy with alias and found es doc which helps to determine whether use data stream or not

```auto
If you frequently update or delete existing time series data, use an index alias with a write index instead of a data stream. 

```

I rarely update or delete my old data (which once has indexed) so according to the doc, I should use data stream But I’m still worried about its limits

I cannot clone, delete, shrink and split writing index when using data stream I have never used es cluster on production level so I'm not sure if there is a situation where I have to do the index operation like these on writing index

what if I have to do cloning or something I cannot do when using data stream? is there any alternative strategy for this situation? or these operation rarely happens on production so I don't have to think about it?

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**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:** [December 5, 2022, 12:37am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/the-limit-of-data-stream/320255/2 "2022-12-05T00:37:12Z")

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> [@2019240081](#):
>
> I cannot clone, delete, shrink and split writing index when using data stream

At the end of the day, a data stream index is still an Elasticsearch index, so you can run actions on them.

However, you wouldn't want to do any of these (other than maybe delete) on the _write_ index anyway. So it's not clear what your concern is.

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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:** [January 2, 2023, 12:38am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/the-limit-of-data-stream/320255/3 "2023-01-02T00:38:13Z")

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