Horizontal scaling, also known as scale-out architecture involves adding more machines to improve its performance and capacity. Elasticsearch is designed to scale horizontally by distributing its workload across multiple nodes in a cluster.

This allows Elasticsearch to handle large amounts of data and queries efficiently, while also providing fault tolerance and high availability. In this article, We will learn about Scaling Elasticsearch Horizontally: Understanding Index Sharding and Replication in detail

Introduction to Horizontal Scaling

Horizontal scaling also known as scale-out architecture involves adding more machines or instances to a system to improve its performance and capacity. Elasticsearch is designed to scale horizontally by distributing its workload across multiple nodes in a cluster.

This allows Elasticsearch to handle large amounts of data and queries efficiently, while also providing fault tolerance and high availability.

Understanding Index Sharding

Index sharding is the process of dividing an index into smaller and more manageable parts called shards. Each shard is a fully functional and independent index that can be hosted on any node in the cluster. Sharding allows Elasticsearch to distribute data and queries across multiple nodes, enabling parallel processing and improving performance.

How Index Sharding Works

This process allows Elasticsearch to distribute data and queries across nodes, enabling parallel processing and improving performance.

Here’s how index sharding works in Elasticsearch:

• Creating an Index: When we create an index in Elasticsearch, we specify the number of primary shards for that index. For example, if we u create an index with 5 primary shards, Elasticsearch will create 5 primary shards for that index.

PUT /my_index
{
  "settings": {
    "number_of_shards": 5
  }
}
we

• Indexing Documents: When we index a document, Elasticsearch uses a sharding algorithm to determine which shard the document should be stored in. The sharding algorithm typically uses the document’s ID or a routing value to determine the shard.
• Distributing Shards: Elasticsearch distributes the shards across the nodes in the cluster. Each shard is assigned to a specific node, and Elasticsearch ensures that each shard is hosted on a different node for fault tolerance and high availability.
• Replica Shards: In addition to primary shards, Elasticsearch also creates replica shards for each primary shard. Replica shards are exact copies of primary shards that are hosted on different nodes. Replica shards provide fault tolerance and high availability, ensuring that data is not lost in case of node failure.
• Querying Data: When we query an index, Elasticsearch routes the query to the appropriate shards based on the sharding algorithm. Elasticsearch then executes the query in parallel on the shards and aggregates the results before returning them to the client.

Example: Suppose we have an index named “products” with 5 primary shards. When we index a new product document, Elasticsearch uses the sharding algorithm to determine which shard to store the document in. The document is then stored in the appropriate shard on a specific node in the cluster.

Benefits of Index Sharding

Index sharding offers several benefits:

• Improved Performance: By distributing data and query load across multiple shards, Elasticsearch can parallelize search and indexing operations, leading to better performance and reduced latency.
• Scalability: Adding more nodes to the cluster allows us to increase the number of shards, enabling seamless scalability as our data grows.
• Fault Tolerance: In the event of node failure, Elasticsearch can continue serving queries by routing them to replica shards and ensuring data availability.

Understanding Index Replication

Index replication involves creating copies of index shards, known as replica shards and distributing them across nodes in the cluster. Replicas serve as backups and help improve fault tolerance and search performance by distributing query load across multiple copies of the data.

How Index Replication Works

Index replication in Elasticsearch works by creating exact copies (replica shards) of primary shards and distributing them across different nodes in the cluster. This process ensures fault tolerance and high availability of data.

Let’s understand how index replication works with an example:

• Create an Index with Replication Settings: When we create an index in Elasticsearch, we can specify the number of primary shards and replica shards. For example, let’s create an index named “my_index” with 3 primary shards and 2 replica shards:

PUT /my_index
{
  "settings": {
    "number_of_shards": 3,
    "number_of_replicas": 2
  }
}

In this example, Elasticsearch will create 3 primary shards and 2 replica shards for each primary shard, resulting in a total of 9 shards (3 primary shards + 6 replica shards).

• Data Ingestion: When you index a document into the “my_index” index, Elasticsearch determines which primary shard to store the document in based on a sharding algorithm. Once the document is indexed into a primary shard, Elasticsearch automatically creates replica shards for that document and distributes them across different nodes in the cluster.
• Replica Shard Placement: Elasticsearch ensures that replica shards are not placed on the same node as their corresponding primary shards to provide fault tolerance. If a node hosting a primary shard fails, one of the replica shards can be promoted to a primary shard, ensuring that data is not lost.
• Querying Data: When you query the “my_index” index, Elasticsearch can distribute the query across all primary and replica shards. This allows Elasticsearch to parallelize the query execution, improving performance. If a node hosting a primary shard is busy or unavailable, Elasticsearch can route the query to a replica shard hosted on a different node, ensuring high availability of data.

Conclusion

Index sharding is a critical concept in Elasticsearch that allows for efficient data distribution and query processing. By understanding how index sharding works and its benefits, we can effectively design and manage Elasticsearch clusters for optimal performance and scalability.