DAPE.work
Login Register

Max Shards Per Node Exceeded

Severity: High
Elasticsearch Version: 8.5.0

Problem

Cluster refuses index creation due to exceeding maximum shards per node limit

Root Cause

Exceeded shard limit per node configured by index.max_shards_per_node setting

How to Detect

Symptoms

  • Index creation failures with shard limit errors
  • Cluster health shows yellow or red status
  • Cluster stats indicate high shard count

Commands

GET _cluster/health
GET _cat/shards
GET _cluster/settings

Remediation Steps

  1. Identify indices with excessive shards
  2. Reduce shard count by reindexing or shrinking indices
  3. Adjust index.max_shards_per_node setting if appropriate
  4. Perform shard allocation reroute if necessary

Prevention

  • Implement shard planning during index creation
  • Set appropriate shard limits based on node capacity
  • Monitor shard counts regularly
  • Automate shard management policies

Production Example

curl -X PUT "localhost:9200/_cluster/settings" -H 'Content-Type: application/json' -d '{"persistent": {"index.max_shards_per_node": 1000}}'
View all Elasticsearch errors