# What are "number\_of\_routing\_shards"?

**URL:** <https://discuss.elastic.co/t/what-are-number-of-routing-shards/120506>\
**Category:** Beats\
**Tags:** winlogbeat\
**Created:** [February 19, 2018, 6:19pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/what-are-number-of-routing-shards/120506 "2018-02-19T18:19:56Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 2

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**Author:** ![steffens](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/steffens/32/79630_2.png) [@steffens](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/steffens)\
**Post date:** [February 19, 2018, 7:52pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/what-are-number-of-routing-shards/120506/2 "2018-02-19T19:52:38Z")

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It's related to index splitting. For more details see the [Elasticsearch Split Index docs](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/6.x/indices-split-index.html#indices-split-index). In order to allow for index splitting (on an existing shard), one must have this setting set at index creation time. Factorising the value of `number_of_routing_shards / shards = a * b * c * ...` gives you the potential split factors (`a`, `b`, `c` etc.) you can use in the lifetime of an index.

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