# What happens if 2 of 5 data nodes are down?
**URL:** https://discuss.elastic.co/t/what-happens-if-2-of-5-data-nodes-are-down/286019
**Category:** Elasticsearch
**Created:** [October 6, 2021, 11:39am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/what-happens-if-2-of-5-data-nodes-are-down/286019 "2021-10-06T11:39:20Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@smm](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/smm)
#### Post date: [October 6, 2021, 11:39am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/what-happens-if-2-of-5-data-nodes-are-down/286019/1 "2021-10-06T11:39:20Z")
Dear community,
what does happen if in an Elasticsearch cluster 2 of 5 data nodes are down, data is still incoming via logstash and daily indices are used (cluster version 7.8.1)? For example the nodes are down for max 1hour and then come back online?
By the way: in the Elasticsearch.yml I have also this in place:
gateway.recover\_after\_data\_nodes: 4
gateway.recover\_after\_master\_nodes: 2
gateway.recover\_after\_time: 4m
gateway.expected\_master\_nodes: 3
gateway.expected\_data\_nodes: 5
Should I chage gateway.recover\_after\_data\_nodes to 3??
Thank you very much for your / any insight!
cheers
Ste
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### Author:  [@warkolm](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/warkolm)
#### Post date: [October 11, 2021, 12:50am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/what-happens-if-2-of-5-data-nodes-are-down/286019/2 "2021-10-11T00:50:30Z")
7.8 is nearly [EOL](https://www.elastic.co/support/eol), you should look to upgrade if you can. 7.15 is latest.
Basically it'll rebalance the indices and continue on. If you know the nodes are coming back you can always look at altering [Delaying allocation when a node leaves | Elasticsearch Guide [7.15] | Elastic](https://www.elastic.co/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/7.15/delayed-allocation.html).
> [@smm](#):
>
> Should I chage gateway.recover\_after\_data\_nodes to 3??
You can change that dynamically, which might be a better option if you know it's short term.
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### Author:  [@smm](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/smm)
#### Post date: [October 15, 2021, 7:04am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/what-happens-if-2-of-5-data-nodes-are-down/286019/3 "2021-10-15T07:04:32Z")
Thank you very much for your insights!
cheers
Stefano
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### Author:  [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)
#### Post date: [November 12, 2021, 7:04am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/what-happens-if-2-of-5-data-nodes-are-down/286019/4 "2021-11-12T07:04:57Z")
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