---
title: Data node without shards
description: Describes what AutoOps detects and surfaces with the Data node without shards insight: One or more data nodes have no shards allocated.
url: https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/autoops-insights/tree/main/elasticsearch/data_node_without_shards
products:
  - Elastic Cloud Enterprise
  - Elastic Cloud Hosted
  - Elastic Cloud on Kubernetes
  - Elasticsearch
applies_to:
  - Elastic Cloud Hosted: Generally available
  - Elastic Cloud on Kubernetes: Generally available
  - Elastic Cloud Enterprise: Generally available
  - Self-managed Elastic deployments: Generally available
---

# Data node without shards
One or more data nodes have no shards allocated. That can be intentional during maintenance or decommissioning, or it can mean allocation rules or node attributes are blocking placement.
<note>
  For a complete list of insights, refer to [AutoOps insights](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/autoops-insights/tree/main/elasticsearch).
</note>


## Insight details


| Field     | Value                                               |
|-----------|-----------------------------------------------------|
| Component | Elasticsearch                                       |
| Severity  | Low                                                 |
| Scope     | Node                                                |
| Domains   | performance, resource-utilization, shard-allocation |


## Example: What you might see in AutoOps

The following is an example of what you might see when this insight is triggered. Real insights use live data and links from your deployment or cluster.

### Some data nodes do not contain any shards


#### What was detected

2 data nodes have no shards allocated.
Affected nodes: `es-data-01` and `es-data-02`

#### Recommendations

<note>
  AutoOps shows different recommendations depending on how their conditions match your deployment or cluster.
</note>

<dropdown title="Enable shard allocation">
  **Condition**: Always shown for this insight.Reset `cluster.routing.allocation.enable` so primary and replica shards can allocate to nodes.
  ```json

  {
    "transient": {
      "cluster.routing.allocation.enable": null
    },
    "persistent": {
      "cluster.routing.allocation.enable": null
    }
  }
  ```

  <note>
    Requires the `manage cluster` privilege. Requires Elasticsearch 8.0.0 or later. This action changes cluster or index configuration.
  </note>
</dropdown>


#### Background and impact

Data nodes are meant to hold shards. A node with zero shards might be empty on purpose (for example before hardware maintenance or decommissioning, after data was drained). It can also stay empty because of allocation filters, awareness rules, disk watermarks, or node attributes (name, zone, tier tags) that no longer match index routing requirements.
While a data node stays empty, the rest of the cluster carries more load than it needs to. If the empty node was not part of a planned change, allocation settings are usually the place to look.

## Guide

[Shard allocation, relocation, and recovery](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-content/tree/main/deploy-manage/distributed-architecture/shard-allocation-relocation-recovery)