# Understanding allocation\_id

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/understanding-allocation-id/113709>\
**Category:** Elasticsearch\
**Created:** [January 1, 2018, 8:40pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/understanding-allocation-id/113709 "2018-01-01T20:40:14Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![itarch](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/itarch/32/61534_2.png) [@itarch](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/itarch)\
**Post date:** [January 1, 2018, 8:40pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/understanding-allocation-id/113709/1 "2018-01-01T20:40:14Z")

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Hi

I'm new to elastic search and I would like to know if there is any relationship between (allocation\_id)  
`GET /_shard_stores?status=green ... ... "allocation_id": " **40ymWcrHSWSARPNdO8mLfA**"`

and the directories I find in data path (/var/lib/elasticsearch/nodes/0/\*\*\*\*\*)?

Is there any reason why I should know where index'es (shard master/replicas) are stored on node's filesystem?

Thanks

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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:** [January 1, 2018, 8:57pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/understanding-allocation-id/113709/2 "2018-01-01T20:57:43Z")

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> [@itarch](#):
>
> Is there any reason why I should know where index'es (shard master/replicas) are stored on node's filesystem?

Nope. All interactions should happen via APIs 🙂

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**Author:** ![jasontedor](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/jasontedor/32/66992_2.png) [@jasontedor](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/jasontedor)\
**Post date:** [January 2, 2018, 1:47am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/understanding-allocation-id/113709/3 "2018-01-02T01:47:01Z")

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No, there is no relationship between allocation IDs and the paths on disk. Instead, these are the index UUIDs, which are fixed for the lifetime of an index.

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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 30, 2018, 1:47am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/understanding-allocation-id/113709/4 "2018-01-30T01:47:09Z")

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