elasticsearch/docs/reference/index-modules/allocation.asciidoc

[[index-modules-allocation]]
== Index Shard Allocation

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

Allows to control the allocation of 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*`. Additionally, special attribute
names called `_ip`, `_name`, `_id` and `_host` can be used to match by node
ip address, name, id or host name, respectively.

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"
    }
}'
--------------------------------------------------

[float]
=== Total Shards Per Node

The `index.routing.allocation.total_shards_per_node` setting allows to
control how many total shards (replicas and primaries) for an index will be allocated per node.
It can be dynamically set on a live index using the update index
settings API.

[float]
[[disk]]
=== Disk-based Shard Allocation

disk based shard allocation is enabled from version 1.3.0 onward

Elasticsearch can be configured to prevent shard
allocation on nodes depending on disk usage for the node. This
functionality is enabled by default, and can be changed either in the
configuration file, or dynamically using:

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

Once enabled, Elasticsearch uses two watermarks to decide whether
shards should be allocated or can remain on the node.

`cluster.routing.allocation.disk.watermark.low` controls the low
watermark for disk usage. It defaults to 85%, meaning ES will not
allocate new shards to nodes once they have more than 85% disk
used. It can also be set to an absolute byte value (like 500mb) to
prevent ES from allocating shards if less than the configured amount
of space is available.

`cluster.routing.allocation.disk.watermark.high` controls the high
watermark. It defaults to 90%, meaning ES will attempt to relocate
shards to another node if the node disk usage rises above 90%. It can
also be set to an absolute byte value (similar to the low watermark)
to relocate shards once less than the configured amount of space is
available on the node.

NOTE: Percentage values refer to used disk space, while byte values refer to
free disk space. This can be confusing, since it flips the meaning of
high and low. For example, it makes sense to set the low watermark to 10gb
and the high watermark to 5gb, but not the other way around.

Both watermark settings can be changed dynamically using the cluster
settings API. By default, Elasticsearch will retrieve information
about the disk usage of the nodes every 30 seconds. This can also be
changed by setting the `cluster.info.update.interval` setting.

An example of updating the low watermark to no more than 80% of the disk size, a
high watermark of at least 50 gigabytes free, and updating the information about
the cluster every minute:

[source,js]
--------------------------------------------------
curl -XPUT localhost:9200/_cluster/settings -d '{
    "transient" : {
        "cluster.routing.allocation.disk.watermark.low" : "80%",
        "cluster.routing.allocation.disk.watermark.high" : "50gb",
        "cluster.info.update.interval" : "1m"
    }
}'
--------------------------------------------------

By default, Elasticsearch will take into account shards that are currently being
relocated to the target node when computing a node's disk usage. This can be
changed by setting the `cluster.routing.allocation.disk.include_relocations`
setting to `false` (defaults to `true`). Taking relocating shards' sizes into
account may, however, mean that the disk usage for a node is incorrectly
estimated on the high side, since the relocation could be 90% complete and a
recently retrieved disk usage would include the total size of the relocating
shard as well as the space already used by the running relocation.