# Yellow status, unassigned shards, editing config makes no difference **URL:** \ **Category:** Elasticsearch\ **Created:** [April 23, 2013, 10:40am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/yellow-status-unassigned-shards-editing-config-makes-no-difference/11666 "2013-04-23T10:40:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![doug\_livesey](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/doug_livesey/32/2114_2.png) [@doug\_livesey](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/doug_livesey)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2013, 10:40am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/yellow-status-unassigned-shards-editing-config-makes-no-difference/11666/1 "2013-04-23T10:40:53Z")
Hi -- I'm trying to setup an elasticsearch server with the simplest practical settings possible, but have run into difficulty. When I check the health of the cluster, I get this: { "cluster\_name" : "my-elasticsearch", "status" : "yellow", "timed\_out" : false, "number\_of\_nodes" : 1, "number\_of\_data\_nodes" : 1, "active\_primary\_shards" : 10, "active\_shards" : 10, "relocating\_shards" : 0, "initializing\_shards" : 0, "unassigned\_shards" : 10 } I have explicitly set the number of replicas to 0 and the number of shards to 10 in the config file, so don't understand why I have 10 shards unassigned. In testing, to see if I could influence this health report in any way, I have set the number of replicas to 3, and the number of shards to 100, and rebooted, but it doesn't make any difference to the health output. Which suggests to me that maybe the /etc/elasticsearch/elasticsearch.yml config file isn't being read? The logs for the last couple of ES cycles look like this: [2013-04-23 10:14:37,159][INFO][node] [Ape-Man] {0.20.6}[1419]: initializing ... [2013-04-23 10:14:37,168][INFO][plugins] [Ape-Man] loaded [], sites [] [2013-04-23 10:14:40,553][INFO][node] [Ape-Man] {0.20.6}[1419]: initialized [2013-04-23 10:14:40,553][INFO][node] [Ape-Man] {0.20.6}[1419]: starting ... [2013-04-23 10:14:40,692][INFO][transport] [Ape-Man] bound\_address {inet[/0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:9300]}, publish\_address {inet[/ 10.0.0.11:9300]} [2013-04-23 10:14:43,726][INFO][cluster.service] [Ape-Man] new\_master [Ape-Man][PGnIGnW0SCywZKn9q6ZGLQ][inet[/10.0.0.11:9300]], reason: zen-disco-join (elected\_as\_master) [2013-04-23 10:14:43,770][INFO][discovery] [Ape-Man] folksy-elasticsearch/PGnIGnW0SCywZKn9q6ZGLQ [2013-04-23 10:14:43,915][INFO][http] [Ape-Man] bound\_address {inet[/0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:9200]}, publish\_address {inet[/ 10.0.0.11:9200]} [2013-04-23 10:14:43,915][INFO][node] [Ape-Man] {0.20.6}[1419]: started [2013-04-23 10:14:44,906][INFO][gateway] [Ape-Man] recovered [1] indices into cluster\_state [2013-04-23 10:21:20,851][INFO][node] [Ape-Man] {0.20.6}[1419]: stopping ... [2013-04-23 10:21:20,975][INFO][node] [Ape-Man] {0.20.6}[1419]: stopped [2013-04-23 10:21:20,975][INFO][node] [Ape-Man] {0.20.6}[1419]: closing ... [2013-04-23 10:21:20,992][INFO][node] [Ape-Man] {0.20.6}[1419]: closed [2013-04-23 10:24:39,959][INFO][node] [Ulik] {0.20.6}[1000]: initializing ... [2013-04-23 10:24:39,971][INFO][plugins] [Ulik] loaded [], sites [] [2013-04-23 10:24:43,613][INFO][node] [Ulik] {0.20.6}[1000]: initialized [2013-04-23 10:24:43,613][INFO][node] [Ulik] {0.20.6}[1000]: starting ... [2013-04-23 10:24:43,777][INFO][transport] [Ulik] bound\_address {inet[/0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:9300]}, publish\_address {inet[/ 10.0.0.11:9300]} [2013-04-23 10:24:46,970][INFO][cluster.service] [Ulik] new\_master [Ulik][Yj1qL5FHTPGORBNQ\_X4NSg][inet[/10.0.0.11:9300]], reason: zen-disco-join (elected\_as\_master) [2013-04-23 10:24:47,037][INFO][discovery] [Ulik] folksy-elasticsearch/Yj1qL5FHTPGORBNQ\_X4NSg [2013-04-23 10:24:47,061][INFO][http] [Ulik] bound\_address {inet[/0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:9200]}, publish\_address {inet[/ 10.0.0.11:9200]} [2013-04-23 10:24:47,061][INFO][node] [Ulik] {0.20.6}[1000]: started [2013-04-23 10:24:48,429][INFO][gateway] [Ulik] recovered [1] indices into cluster\_state The elasticsearch process looks like this: 108 1000 1.3 2.7 7770576 206964 ? Sl 10:24 0:12 /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-openjdk-amd64//bin/java -Xms6g -Xmx6g -Xss256k -Djava.awt.headless=true -XX:+UseParNewGC -XX:+UseConcMarkSweepGC -XX:CMSInitiatingOccupancyFraction=75 -XX:+UseCMSInitiatingOccupancyOnly -XX:+HeapDumpOnOutOfMemoryError -Delasticsearch -Des.pidfile=/var/run/elasticsearch.pid -Des.path.home=/usr/share/elasticsearch -cp :/usr/share/elasticsearch/lib/elasticsearch-0.20.6.jar:/usr/share/elasticsearch/lib/_:/usr/share/elasticsearch/lib/sigar/_ -Des.default.config=/etc/elasticsearch/elasticsearch.yml -Des.default.path.home=/usr/share/elasticsearch -Des.default.path.logs=/var/log/elasticsearch -Des.default.path.data=/var/lib/elasticsearch -Des.default.path.work=/tmp/elasticsearch -Des.default.path.conf=/etc/elasticsearch org.elasticsearch.bootstrap.ElasticSearch If anyone could help me diagnose this, I'd be really grateful. I'm using the .deb install of 0.20.6 Cheers, Doug. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "elasticsearch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com](mailto:elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com). For more options, visit [https://groups.google.com/groups/opt\_out](https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out). ---
**Author:** ![doug\_livesey](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/doug_livesey/32/2114_2.png) [@doug\_livesey](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/doug_livesey)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2013, 11:59am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/yellow-status-unassigned-shards-editing-config-makes-no-difference/11666/2 "2013-04-23T11:59:27Z")
_shamefaced_ Okay, so I rebuilt my indices with a rake task, and ... All was well. It looks like an old index was affecting the health reports. Which is weird, as I thought I'd deleted all old data directories, but I guess not. So I'll go investigate what I should have been deleting. I'm still confused as to why my changes to the config file didn't seem to have any effect, though. On 23 April 2013 11:40, doug livesey [biot023@gmail.com](mailto:biot023@gmail.com) wrote: > Hi -- I'm trying to setup an elasticsearch server with the simplest > practical settings possible, but have run into difficulty. > When I check the health of the cluster, I get this: > { > "cluster\_name" : "my-elasticsearch", > "status" : "yellow", > "timed\_out" : false, > "number\_of\_nodes" : 1, > "number\_of\_data\_nodes" : 1, > "active\_primary\_shards" : 10, > "active\_shards" : 10, > "relocating\_shards" : 0, > "initializing\_shards" : 0, > "unassigned\_shards" : 10 > } > > I have explicitly set the number of replicas to 0 and the number of shards > to 10 in the config file, so don't understand why I have 10 shards > unassigned. > In testing, to see if I could influence this health report in any way, I > have set the number of replicas to 3, and the number of shards to 100, and > rebooted, but it doesn't make any difference to the health output. > Which suggests to me that maybe the /etc/elasticsearch/elasticsearch.yml > config file isn't being read? > The logs for the last couple of ES cycles look like this: > > [2013-04-23 10:14:37,159][INFO][node] [Ape-Man] > {0.20.6}[1419]: initializing ... > [2013-04-23 10:14:37,168][INFO][plugins] [Ape-Man] > loaded , sites > [2013-04-23 10:14:40,553][INFO][node] [Ape-Man] > {0.20.6}[1419]: initialized > [2013-04-23 10:14:40,553][INFO][node] [Ape-Man] > {0.20.6}[1419]: starting ... > [2013-04-23 10:14:40,692][INFO][transport] [Ape-Man] > bound\_address {inet[/0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:9300]}, publish\_address {inet[/ > 10.0.0.11:9300]} > [2013-04-23 10:14:43,726][INFO][cluster.service] [Ape-Man] > new\_master [Ape-Man][PGnIGnW0SCywZKn9q6ZGLQ][inet[/10.0.0.11:9300]], > reason: zen-disco-join (elected\_as\_master) > [2013-04-23 10:14:43,770][INFO][discovery] [Ape-Man] > folksy-elasticsearch/PGnIGnW0SCywZKn9q6ZGLQ > [2013-04-23 10:14:43,915][INFO][http] [Ape-Man] > bound\_address {inet[/0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:9200]}, publish\_address {inet[/ > 10.0.0.11:9200]} > [2013-04-23 10:14:43,915][INFO][node] [Ape-Man] > {0.20.6}[1419]: started > [2013-04-23 10:14:44,906][INFO][gateway] [Ape-Man] > recovered [1] indices into cluster\_state > [2013-04-23 10:21:20,851][INFO][node] [Ape-Man] > {0.20.6}[1419]: stopping ... > [2013-04-23 10:21:20,975][INFO][node] [Ape-Man] > {0.20.6}[1419]: stopped > [2013-04-23 10:21:20,975][INFO][node] [Ape-Man] > {0.20.6}[1419]: closing ... > [2013-04-23 10:21:20,992][INFO][node] [Ape-Man] > {0.20.6}[1419]: closed > [2013-04-23 10:24:39,959][INFO][node] [Ulik] > {0.20.6}[1000]: initializing ... > [2013-04-23 10:24:39,971][INFO][plugins] [Ulik] loaded > , sites > [2013-04-23 10:24:43,613][INFO][node] [Ulik] > {0.20.6}[1000]: initialized > [2013-04-23 10:24:43,613][INFO][node] [Ulik] > {0.20.6}[1000]: starting ... > [2013-04-23 10:24:43,777][INFO][transport] [Ulik] > bound\_address {inet[/0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:9300]}, publish\_address {inet[/ > 10.0.0.11:9300]} > [2013-04-23 10:24:46,970][INFO][cluster.service] [Ulik] > new\_master [Ulik][Yj1qL5FHTPGORBNQ\_X4NSg][inet[/10.0.0.11:9300]], reason: > zen-disco-join (elected\_as\_master) > [2013-04-23 10:24:47,037][INFO][discovery] [Ulik] > folksy-elasticsearch/Yj1qL5FHTPGORBNQ\_X4NSg > [2013-04-23 10:24:47,061][INFO][http] [Ulik] > bound\_address {inet[/0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0:9200]}, publish\_address {inet[/ > 10.0.0.11:9200]} > [2013-04-23 10:24:47,061][INFO][node] [Ulik] > {0.20.6}[1000]: started > [2013-04-23 10:24:48,429][INFO][gateway] [Ulik] > recovered [1] indices into cluster\_state > > The elasticsearch process looks like this: > 108 1000 1.3 2.7 7770576 206964 ? Sl 10:24 0:12 > /usr/lib/jvm/java-7-openjdk-amd64//bin/java -Xms6g -Xmx6g -Xss256k > -Djava.awt.headless=true -XX:+UseParNewGC -XX:+UseConcMarkSweepGC > -XX:CMSInitiatingOccupancyFraction=75 -XX:+UseCMSInitiatingOccupancyOnly > -XX:+HeapDumpOnOutOfMemoryError -Delasticsearch > -Des.pidfile=/var/run/elasticsearch.pid > -Des.path.home=/usr/share/elasticsearch -cp > :/usr/share/elasticsearch/lib/elasticsearch-0.20.6.jar:/usr/share/elasticsearch/lib/_:/usr/share/elasticsearch/lib/sigar/_ > -Des.default.config=/etc/elasticsearch/elasticsearch.yml > -Des.default.path.home=/usr/share/elasticsearch > -Des.default.path.logs=/var/log/elasticsearch > -Des.default.path.data=/var/lib/elasticsearch > -Des.default.path.work=/tmp/elasticsearch > -Des.default.path.conf=/etc/elasticsearch > org.elasticsearch.bootstrap.Elasticsearch > > If anyone could help me diagnose this, I'd be really grateful. > I'm using the .deb install of 0.20.6 > Cheers, > Doug. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "elasticsearch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com](mailto:elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com). For more options, visit [https://groups.google.com/groups/opt\_out](https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out). ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2017, 2:39am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/yellow-status-unassigned-shards-editing-config-makes-no-difference/11666/3 "2017-07-06T02:39:58Z")