---
title: Operator-only functionality
description: Operator privileges provide protection for APIs and dynamic cluster settings. Any API or cluster setting that is protected by operator privileges is known...
url: https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-content/pull/4491/deploy-manage/users-roles/cluster-or-deployment-auth/operator-only-functionality
products:
  - Elasticsearch
---

# Operator-only functionality
<admonition title="Indirect use only">
  This feature is designed for indirect use by Elastic Cloud Hosted, Elastic Cloud Enterprise, and Elastic Cloud on Kubernetes. Direct use is not supported.
</admonition>

Operator privileges provide protection for APIs and dynamic cluster settings. Any API or cluster setting that is protected by operator privileges is known as *operator-only functionality*. When the operator privileges feature is enabled, operator-only APIs can be executed only by operator users. Likewise, operator-only settings can be updated only by operator users. The list of operator-only APIs and dynamic cluster settings are pre-determined in the codebase. The list may evolve in future releases but it is otherwise fixed in a given Elasticsearch version.

## Operator-only APIs

- [Voting configuration exclusions](https://www.elastic.co/docs/api/doc/elasticsearch/operation/operation-cluster-post-voting-config-exclusions)
- [Delete license](https://www.elastic.co/docs/api/doc/elasticsearch/operation/operation-license-delete)
- [Update license](https://www.elastic.co/docs/api/doc/elasticsearch/operation/operation-license-post)
- [Create or update autoscaling policy](https://www.elastic.co/docs/api/doc/elasticsearch/operation/operation-autoscaling-put-autoscaling-policy)
- [Delete autoscaling policy](https://www.elastic.co/docs/api/doc/elasticsearch/operation/operation-autoscaling-delete-autoscaling-policy)
- [Create or update desired nodes](https://www.elastic.co/docs/api/doc/elasticsearch/group/endpoint-cluster)
- [Get desired nodes](https://www.elastic.co/docs/api/doc/elasticsearch/group/endpoint-cluster)
- [Delete desired nodes](https://www.elastic.co/docs/api/doc/elasticsearch/group/endpoint-cluster)
- [Get desired balance](https://www.elastic.co/docs/api/doc/elasticsearch/group/endpoint-cluster)
- [Reset desired balance](https://www.elastic.co/docs/api/doc/elasticsearch/group/endpoint-cluster)


## Operator-only dynamic cluster settings

- All [IP filtering](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/docs-content/pull/4491/deploy-manage/security/ip-filtering) settings
- The following dynamic [machine learning settings](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/elasticsearch/tree/main/reference/elasticsearch/configuration-reference/machine-learning-settings):
  - `xpack.ml.node_concurrent_job_allocations`
- `xpack.ml.max_machine_memory_percent`
- `xpack.ml.use_auto_machine_memory_percent`
- `xpack.ml.max_lazy_ml_nodes`
- `xpack.ml.process_connect_timeout`
- `xpack.ml.nightly_maintenance_requests_per_second`
- `xpack.ml.max_ml_node_size`
- `xpack.ml.enable_config_migration`
- `xpack.ml.persist_results_max_retries`
- The [`cluster.routing.allocation.disk.threshold_enabled` setting](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/elasticsearch/tree/main/reference/elasticsearch/configuration-reference/cluster-level-shard-allocation-routing-settings#cluster-routing-disk-threshold)
- The following [recovery settings for managed services](https://docs-v3-preview.elastic.dev/elastic/elasticsearch/tree/main/reference/elasticsearch/configuration-reference/index-recovery-settings#recovery-settings-for-managed-services):
  - `node.bandwidth.recovery.operator.factor`
- `node.bandwidth.recovery.operator.factor.read`
- `node.bandwidth.recovery.operator.factor.write`
- `node.bandwidth.recovery.operator.factor.max_overcommit`