OpenSearch Exceeded Maximum Shard Limit

How to fix it

// try these in order, the most common fix is first

1. FIX 1Count what you have

   1. 01GET _cat/shards?v | wc -l and GET _cat/allocation?v
   Did this fix it? Yes No

2. FIX 2Remove or consolidate

   Copy steps
   1. 01Delete old indices with ISM
   2. 02Use the _shrink API to cut shard counts
   3. 03Reindex small indices together
   Did this fix it? Yes No

3. FIX 3Add capacity

   1. 01Add data nodes so shards per node drops
   Did this fix it? Yes No

4. FIX 4Temporary raise

   1. 01PUT _cluster/settings {"persistent":{"cluster.max_shards_per_node":1500}} and fix the root cause afterward
   Did this fix it? Yes No

Symptoms

Creating an index fails with an error that the cluster would exceed the maximum number of shards.

Why it happens

• C-01Daily indices with default shard counts
• C-02Many tiny indices
• C-03Not enough data nodes for the shard count

// this guide also covers

• opensearch max shards per node
• opensearch exceeded maximum shard limit
• opensearch too many shards

The same problem in other apps

All plan limits, paywalls & watermarks guides →

• Elasticsearch Disk Watermark: Index Read-Only (FORBIDDEN/12) (Elasticsearch)
• Algolia Record Quota Exceeded or Limit Reached (Algolia)

Other OpenSearch errors

• OpenSearch Cluster Status Red
• OpenSearch Cluster Status Yellow
• OpenSearch Unassigned Shards
• OpenSearch High JVM Memory Pressure
• OpenSearch OutOfMemoryError and Circuit Breaker
• OpenSearch Index Read-Only: Disk Watermark and ClusterBlockException
• OpenSearch 429 Too Many Requests
• OpenSearch Docker Container Won't Start