---
title: Region and hosting
description: Learn which regions host Elastic Inference Service (EIS), how inference requests are routed, and how to restrict routing with region preferences.
url: https://www.elastic.co/elastic/docs-builder/docs/3835/explore-analyze/elastic-inference/eis-region-and-hosting
applies_to:
  - Elastic Cloud Serverless: Generally available
  - Elastic Stack: Generally available
---

# Region and hosting
This page lists the AWS, Azure, and GCP regions where Elastic Inference Service (EIS) is available and explains how inference requests are routed.

## Available regions

**AWS:**
- `us-east-1` (N. Virginia, US)
- `eu-central-1` (Frankfurt, Germany)
- `eu-west-1` (Ireland)

**Azure:**
- `eastus` (Virginia, US)

**GCP:**
- `asia-southeast1` (Singapore)
- `europe-west1` (Belgium)
- `us-east4` (N. Virginia, US)
- `us-east5` (Columbus, US)

All inference requests sent through EIS are routed to the nearest region, regardless of where your Elasticsearch deployment or Serverless project is hosted.
<applies-to>Elastic Stack: Generally available since 9.5</applies-to> <applies-to>Elastic Cloud Serverless: Generally available</applies-to> If you configure [region preferences](#inference-region-preferences), EIS routes only within your allowed geographies or regions.
Depending on the model being used, request processing can involve Elastic inference infrastructure and, in some cases, trusted third-party model providers. For example, ELSER and Jina requests are processed entirely within Elastic inference infrastructure. Other models, such as large language models or third-party embedding models, can involve additional processing by their respective model providers, which can operate in different cloud platforms or regions.

## Inference region preferences

<applies-to>
  - Elastic Cloud Serverless: Generally available
  - Elastic Stack: Generally available since 9.5
</applies-to>

Region preferences let you restrict where EIS processes inference requests.
Use them when your organization needs inference to stay within approved geographies for compliance or data residency.
You can express preferences in one of two ways:
- **Geographies**: Broader geographic areas, shown as options such as **North America — All available regions**.
- **Regions**: Specific cloud service provider regions, for example **US East (N. Virginia) - AWS**.

You must choose either geographies or regions. The two modes are mutually exclusive.
When no region policy is configured, EIS uses the default nearest-region routing described on this page.

### How enforcement works

After you save a region policy:
- EIS routes inference requests only to locations that match your allowed geographies or regions.
- EIS does not silently fall back to a disallowed region during outages or capacity events.
- Models that aren't available in any of your allowed locations become unavailable for use.
  In model details, check the **Regions** field to see where each model can run.
- If a request targets a model that isn't available in your allowed locations, inference fails with a `403` error that includes:
  ```text
  Requested model is not available in the allowed inference regions
  ```
- If you try to save a policy that would deny access to inference endpoints that are already in use by ingest pipelines or indices, Elasticsearch rejects the change with a conflict error.


### Configure region preferences in Kibana

<important>
  Changing region preferences affects all Elastic Inference Service endpoints across all spaces.
  Before you save, check **Regions** in the details for any models you rely on.
  Models that aren't available in your allowed locations become unavailable.
</important>

To open **Elastic inference**, you typically need the `Inference Endpoints: all` and `Advanced Settings: read` Kibana privileges.
To load and save region preferences, you also need the `manage_inference` Elasticsearch cluster privilege.
The **Region preferences** dialog lists only the geographies and regions currently available for your deployment.
It can show fewer options than the full EIS hosting list on this page.
1. Go to the **Elastic Inference Service** page by using the navigation menu or the [global search field](https://www.elastic.co/elastic/docs-builder/docs/3835/explore-analyze/find-and-organize/find-apps-and-objects).
2. Select **Region preferences**.
3. Turn on **Restrict inference to specific locations**.
   ![Region preferences dialog with Restrict inference to specific locations turned on and the Geographies tab open](https://www.elastic.co/elastic/docs-builder/docs/3835/explore-analyze/images/eis-manage-region-preferences.png)
4. Choose a mode:
   - **Geographies**: Select one or more geographic areas.
- **Regions**: Expand a geography and select one or more cloud provider regions.
5. Select **Save preferences**.
6. In the confirmation dialog, review your pending allowed geographies or regions.
   ![Confirm region change dialog listing pending allowed regions](https://www.elastic.co/elastic/docs-builder/docs/3835/explore-analyze/images/eis-confirm-region-change.png)
7. Select **Save**.

When the update succeeds, Kibana shows the **Region preferences saved** message.
If the policy would deny access to in-use inference endpoints, Kibana blocks the update and shows **Region policy update blocked**.

#### Restore default nearest-region routing

1. Open **Region preferences**.
2. Turn off **Restrict inference to specific locations**.
3. Select **I understand this resets my region preferences** in the **Reset region preferences to default?** dialog.
4. Select **Reset to default**.
   ![Reset region preferences to default confirmation dialog](https://www.elastic.co/elastic/docs-builder/docs/3835/explore-analyze/images/eis-reset-region-preferences.png)


### Configure region preferences with the API

You can also manage the region policy with the Elasticsearch Inference APIs.
These APIs require the `manage_inference` cluster privilege to create, update, or delete a policy, and `monitor_inference` to retrieve it.
To allow specific geographies:
```json

{
  "region_policy": {
    "allowed_geos": ["us", "eu"]
  }
}
```

Supported geography codes include `us`, `eu`, and `apac`.
To allow specific cloud provider regions:
```json

{
  "region_policy": {
    "allowed_regions": [
      { "csp": "aws", "region": "us-east-1" },
      { "csp": "gcp", "region": "europe-west1" }
    ]
  }
}
```

If the new policy would deny access to inference endpoints that are currently referenced by ingest pipelines or indices, the request fails with a conflict (`409`) error similar to:
```text
Cannot put the region policy because it would deny access to the following in-use inference endpoints: <endpoint-ids>. Ensure that these inference endpoints are not in use, or use force to ignore this warning and proceed anyway.
```

Resolve the conflict by removing those endpoint references first, or use the `force` parameter on the [create or update inference region policy](https://www.elastic.co/docs/api/doc/elasticsearch/operation/operation-inference-put-region-policy) API if you intentionally want to apply the policy anyway.
To retrieve the current policy:
```json
```

If no policy is configured, the response is a `404` error with the reason `No region policy is configured for this deployment`.
To remove the policy and restore default nearest-region routing:
```json
```

For full request and response details, refer to the [create or update inference region policy](https://www.elastic.co/docs/api/doc/elasticsearch/operation/operation-inference-put-region-policy), [get inference region policy](https://www.elastic.co/docs/api/doc/elasticsearch/operation/operation-inference-get-region-policy), and [delete inference region policy](https://www.elastic.co/docs/api/doc/elasticsearch/operation/operation-inference-delete-region-policy) APIs.