# Unassigned shards status flip-flopping
**URL:** https://discuss.elastic.co/t/unassigned-shards-status-flip-flopping/45880
**Category:** Elasticsearch
**Created:** [March 31, 2016, 7:25am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/unassigned-shards-status-flip-flopping/45880 "2016-03-31T07:25:38Z")
**Posts on this page:** 2
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@jhaar](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/jhaar)
#### Post date: [March 31, 2016, 7:25am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/unassigned-shards-status-flip-flopping/45880/1 "2016-03-31T07:25:38Z")
Hey there
I've noticed an odd thing. With ES-1.7.5 on CentOS7, "[http://localhost:9200/\_cluster/health](http://localhost:9200/_cluster/health)" can show that there are no UNASSIGNED shards, but if I restart it, suddenly thousands show up
We're using graylog, and I've noticed it hanging - being unable to push new data into ES, and was confused why ES was showing "GREEN". And yet if I shut down graylog (ie stop new data), a restart of ES immediately goes to "RED" with thousands of unassigned shards - which certainly explains why graylog was struggling
ie
1. curl [http://localhost:9200/\_cluster/health](http://localhost:9200/_cluster/health) shows GREEN, no unassigned shards
2. restart elasticsearch
3. curl [http://localhost:9200/\_cluster/health](http://localhost:9200/_cluster/health) shows RED, thousands of unassigned shards
If I then wait for ES to process those shards (which it does), then start graylog-server, everything works splendidly for some hours - until it happens again
I know next to nothing about ES, but that doesn't sounds right to me? Surely restarting it shouldn't cause counters to vary by that much?
This is a test server (ie graylog and ES on the same box), with 36G RAM and 24 cores, with no sign of load problems (and ES\_HEAP\_SIZE set to 17G), so I'm confused as to why anything is acting up. Hopefully this explanation prompts someone into telling me what stoopid noobie mistake I've made 🙂
Thanks!
Jason
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### Author:  [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)
#### Post date: [July 5, 2017, 11:03pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/unassigned-shards-status-flip-flopping/45880/2 "2017-07-05T23:03:46Z")