elasticsearch/docs/reference/modules/cluster.asciidoc

[[modules-cluster]]
== Cluster

[float]
[[shards-allocation]]
=== Shards Allocation

Shards allocation is the process of allocating shards to nodes. This can
happen during initial recovery, replica allocation, rebalancing, or
handling nodes being added or removed.

The following settings may be used:

`cluster.routing.allocation.allow_rebalance`::
        Allow to control when rebalancing will happen based on the total 
        state of all the indices shards in the cluster. `always`, 
        `indices_primaries_active`, and `indices_all_active` are allowed, 
        defaulting to `indices_all_active` to reduce chatter during 
        initial recovery.


`cluster.routing.allocation.cluster_concurrent_rebalance`::
      Allow to control how many concurrent rebalancing of shards are 
      allowed cluster wide, and default it to `2`.


`cluster.routing.allocation.node_initial_primaries_recoveries`::
       Allow to control specifically the number of initial recoveries 
       of primaries that are allowed per node. Since most times local 
       gateway is used, those should be fast and we can handle more of 
       those per node without creating load.


`cluster.routing.allocation.node_concurrent_recoveries`::
     How many concurrent recoveries are allowed to happen on a node. 
     Defaults to `2`.

added[1.0.0.RC1]

`cluster.routing.allocation.enable`::
    Controls shard allocation for all indices, by allowing specific
    kinds of shard to be allocated. Can be set to:
    * `all` (default) - Allows shard allocation for all kinds of shards.
    * `primaries` - Allows shard allocation only for primary shards.
    * `new_primaries` - Allows shard allocation only for primary shards for new indices.
    * `none` - No shard allocations of any kind are allowed for all indices.

`cluster.routing.allocation.disable_new_allocation`::
       Allows to disable new primary allocations. Note, this will prevent 
       allocations for newly created indices. This setting really make 
       sense when dynamically updating it using the cluster update 
       settings API. This setting has been deprecated in favour
       for `cluster.routing.allocation.enable`.


`cluster.routing.allocation.disable_allocation`::
        Allows to disable either primary or replica allocation (does not 
        apply to newly created primaries, see `disable_new_allocation` 
        above). Note, a replica will still be promoted to primary if 
        one does not exist. This setting really make sense when 
        dynamically updating it using the cluster update settings API.
        This setting has been deprecated in favour for `cluster.routing.allocation.enable`.


`cluster.routing.allocation.disable_replica_allocation`::
      Allows to disable only replica allocation. Similar to the previous 
      setting, mainly make sense when using it dynamically using the 
      cluster update settings API. This setting has been deprecated in
      favour for `cluster.routing.allocation.enable`.

`cluster.routing.allocation.same_shard.host`::
      Prevents that multiple instances of the same shard are allocated
      on a single host. Defaults to `false`. This setting only applies 
      if multiple nodes are started on the same machine.

`indices.recovery.concurrent_streams`::
       The number of streams to open (on a *node* level) to recover a 
       shard from a peer shard. Defaults to `3`. 

[float]
[[allocation-awareness]]
=== Shard Allocation Awareness

Cluster allocation awareness allows to configure shard and replicas
allocation across generic attributes associated the nodes. Lets explain
it through an example:

Assume we have several racks. When we start a node, we can configure an
attribute called `rack_id` (any attribute name works), for example, here
is a sample config:

----------------------
node.rack_id: rack_one
----------------------

The above sets an attribute called `rack_id` for the relevant node with
a value of `rack_one`. Now, we need to configure the `rack_id` attribute
as one of the awareness allocation attributes (set it on *all* (master
eligible) nodes config):

--------------------------------------------------------
cluster.routing.allocation.awareness.attributes: rack_id
--------------------------------------------------------

The above will mean that the `rack_id` attribute will be used to do
awareness based allocation of shard and its replicas. For example, lets
say we start 2 nodes with `node.rack_id` set to `rack_one`, and deploy a
single index with 5 shards and 1 replica. The index will be fully
deployed on the current nodes (5 shards and 1 replica each, total of 10
shards).

Now, if we start two more nodes, with `node.rack_id` set to `rack_two`,
shards will relocate to even the number of shards across the nodes, but,
a shard and its replica will not be allocated in the same `rack_id`
value.

The awareness attributes can hold several values, for example:

-------------------------------------------------------------
cluster.routing.allocation.awareness.attributes: rack_id,zone
-------------------------------------------------------------

*NOTE*: When using awareness attributes, shards will not be allocated to
nodes that don't have values set for those attributes.

[float]
[[forced-awareness]]
=== Forced Awareness

Sometimes, we know in advance the number of values an awareness
attribute can have, and more over, we would like never to have more
replicas then needed allocated on a specific group of nodes with the
same awareness attribute value. For that, we can force awareness on
specific attributes.

For example, lets say we have an awareness attribute called `zone`, and
we know we are going to have two zones, `zone1` and `zone2`. Here is how
we can force awareness one a node:

[source,js]
-------------------------------------------------------------------
cluster.routing.allocation.awareness.force.zone.values: zone1,zone2
cluster.routing.allocation.awareness.attributes: zone
-------------------------------------------------------------------

Now, lets say we start 2 nodes with `node.zone` set to `zone1` and
create an index with 5 shards and 1 replica. The index will be created,
but only 5 shards will be allocated (with no replicas). Only when we
start more shards with `node.zone` set to `zone2` will the replicas be
allocated.

[float]
==== Automatic Preference When Searching / GETing

When executing a search, or doing a get, the node receiving the request
will prefer to execute the request on shards that exists on nodes that
have the same attribute values as the executing node.

[float]
==== Realtime Settings Update

The settings can be updated using the <<cluster-update-settings,cluster update settings API>> on a live cluster.

[float]
[[allocation-filtering]]
=== Shard Allocation Filtering

Allow to control allocation if indices on nodes based on include/exclude
filters. The filters can be set both on the index level and on the
cluster level. Lets start with an example of setting it on the cluster
level:

Lets say we have 4 nodes, each has specific attribute called `tag`
associated with it (the name of the attribute can be any name). Each
node has a specific value associated with `tag`. Node 1 has a setting
`node.tag: value1`, Node 2 a setting of `node.tag: value2`, and so on.

We can create an index that will only deploy on nodes that have `tag`
set to `value1` and `value2` by setting
`index.routing.allocation.include.tag` to `value1,value2`. For example:

[source,js]
--------------------------------------------------
curl -XPUT localhost:9200/test/_settings -d '{
      "index.routing.allocation.include.tag" : "value1,value2" 
}' 
--------------------------------------------------

On the other hand, we can create an index that will be deployed on all
nodes except for nodes with a `tag` of value `value3` by setting
`index.routing.allocation.exclude.tag` to `value3`. For example:

[source,js]
--------------------------------------------------
curl -XPUT localhost:9200/test/_settings -d '{
      "index.routing.allocation.exclude.tag" : "value3" 
}' 
--------------------------------------------------

`index.routing.allocation.require.*` can be used to 
specify a number of rules, all of which MUST match in order for a shard
to be  allocated to a node. This is in contrast to `include` which will
include a node if ANY rule matches.

The `include`, `exclude` and `require` values can have generic simple
matching wildcards, for example, `value1*`. A special attribute name
called `_ip` can be used to match on node ip values. In addition `_host`
attribute can be used to match on either the node's hostname or its ip
address.

Obviously a node can have several attributes associated with it, and
both the attribute name and value are controlled in the setting. For
example, here is a sample of several node configurations:

[source,js]
--------------------------------------------------
node.group1: group1_value1
node.group2: group2_value4
--------------------------------------------------

In the same manner, `include`, `exclude` and `require` can work against
several attributes, for example:

[source,js]
--------------------------------------------------
curl -XPUT localhost:9200/test/_settings -d '{
    "index.routing.allocation.include.group1" : "xxx"
    "index.routing.allocation.include.group2" : "yyy",
    "index.routing.allocation.exclude.group3" : "zzz",
    "index.routing.allocation.require.group4" : "aaa"
}' 
--------------------------------------------------

The provided settings can also be updated in real time using the update
settings API, allowing to "move" indices (shards) around in realtime.

Cluster wide filtering can also be defined, and be updated in real time
using the cluster update settings API. This setting can come in handy
for things like decommissioning nodes (even if the replica count is set
to 0). Here is a sample of how to decommission a node based on `_ip`
address:

[source,js]
--------------------------------------------------
curl -XPUT localhost:9200/_cluster/settings -d '{
    "transient" : {
        "cluster.routing.allocation.exclude._ip" : "10.0.0.1"
    } 
}' 
--------------------------------------------------