---
title: Unlimited shards per node
description: Describes what AutoOps detects and surfaces with the Unlimited shards per node insight: Retired.
url: https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/autoops-insights/tree/main/elasticsearch/unlimited_shards_per_node
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
---

# Unlimited shards per node
Retired. Unlimited `cluster.routing.allocation.total_shards_per_node` (`-1`) is the Elasticsearch default and is intentional for rebalancing.
<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  | Medium                                     |
| Scope     | Cluster                                    |
| Domains   | configuration, shard-allocation, stability |


## 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.

### The number of shards allowed per node is unlimited


#### What was detected

Total shards per node is configured to -1 that is, unlimited

#### Recommendations

No recommendations are linked to this insight.

#### Background and impact

Retired. Do not recommend setting a proactive finite hard cap solely because the setting is unlimited.