A node uses several thread pools to manage memory consumption. Queues associated with many of the thread pools enable pending requests to be held instead of discarded.
There are several thread pools, but the important ones include:
-
genericFor generic operations (for example, background node discovery). Thread pool type is
scaling. -
searchFor count/search/suggest operations. Thread pool type is
fixedwith a size ofint((# of allocated processors* 3) / 2) + 1, and queue_size of1000. -
search_throttledFor count/search/suggest/get operations on
search_throttled indices. Thread pool type isfixedwith a size of1, and queue_size of100. -
search_coordination For lightweight search-related coordination operations. Thread pool type is
fixedwith a size of a max ofmin(5, (# of allocated processors) / 2), and queue_size of1000. -
getFor get operations. Thread pool type is
fixedwith a size of# of allocated processors, queue_size of1000. -
analyzeFor analyze requests. Thread pool type is
fixedwith a size of1, queue size of16. -
writeFor single-document index/delete/update and bulk requests. Thread pool type is
fixedwith a size of# of allocated processors, queue_size of10000. The maximum size for this pool is1 +# of allocated processors. -
snapshotFor snapshot/restore operations. Thread pool type is
scalingwith a keep-alive of5mand a max ofmin(5, (# of allocated processors) / 2). -
snapshot_metaFor snapshot repository metadata read operations. Thread pool type is
scalingwith a keep-alive of5mand a max ofmin(50, (# of allocated processors* 3)). -
warmerFor segment warm-up operations. Thread pool type is
scalingwith a keep-alive of5mand a max ofmin(5, (# of allocated processors) / 2). -
refreshFor refresh operations. Thread pool type is
scalingwith a keep-alive of5mand a max ofmin(10, (# of allocated processors) / 2). -
fetch_shard_startedFor listing shard states. Thread pool type is
scalingwith keep-alive of5mand a default maximum size of2 *# of allocated processors. -
fetch_shard_storeFor listing shard stores. Thread pool type is
scalingwith keep-alive of5mand a default maximum size of2 *# of allocated processors. -
flushFor flush and translog
fsyncoperations. Thread pool type isscalingwith a keep-alive of5mand a default maximum size ofmin(5, (# of allocated processors) / 2). -
force_mergeFor force merge operations. Thread pool type is
fixedwith a size of 1 and an unbounded queue size. -
managementFor cluster management. Thread pool type is
scalingwith a keep-alive of5mand a default maximum size of5. -
system_readFor read operations on system indices. Thread pool type is
fixedwith a default maximum size ofmin(5, (# of allocated processors) / 2). -
system_writeFor write operations on system indices. Thread pool type is
fixedwith a default maximum size ofmin(5, (# of allocated processors) / 2). -
system_critical_readFor critical read operations on system indices. Thread pool type is
fixedwith a default maximum size ofmin(5, (# of allocated processors) / 2). -
system_critical_writeFor critical write operations on system indices. Thread pool type is
fixedwith a default maximum size ofmin(5, (# of allocated processors) / 2). -
watcherFor watch executions. Thread pool type is
fixedwith a default maximum size ofmin(5 * (# of allocated processors), 50)and queue_size of1000.
Thread pool settings are static and can be changed by editing elasticsearch.yml. Changing a specific thread pool can be done by setting its type-specific parameters; for example, changing the number of threads in the write thread pool:
thread_pool:
write:
size: 30
Thread pool typesedit
The following are the types of thread pools and their respective parameters:
fixededit
The fixed thread pool holds a fixed size of threads to handle the requests with a queue (optionally bounded) for pending requests that have no threads to service them.
The size parameter controls the number of threads.
The queue_size allows to control the size of the queue of pending requests that have no threads to execute them. By default, it is set to -1 which means its unbounded. When a request comes in and the queue is full, it will abort the request.
thread_pool:
write:
size: 30
queue_size: 1000
scalingedit
The scaling thread pool holds a dynamic number of threads. This number is proportional to the workload and varies between the value of the core and max parameters.
The keep_alive parameter determines how long a thread should be kept around in the thread pool without it doing any work.
thread_pool:
warmer:
core: 1
max: 8
keep_alive: 2m
Allocated processors settingedit
The number of processors is automatically detected, and the thread pool settings are automatically set based on it. In some cases it can be useful to override the number of detected processors. This can be done by explicitly setting the node.processors setting.
node.processors: 2
There are a few use-cases for explicitly overriding the node.processors setting:
- If you are running multiple instances of Elasticsearch on the same host but want Elasticsearch to size its thread pools as if it only has a fraction of the CPU, you should override the
node.processorssetting to the desired fraction, for example, if you’re running two instances of Elasticsearch on a 16-core machine, setnode.processorsto 8. Note that this is an expert-level use case and there’s a lot more involved than just setting thenode.processorssetting as there are other considerations like changing the number of garbage collector threads, pinning processes to cores, and so on. - Sometimes the number of processors is wrongly detected and in such cases explicitly setting the
node.processorssetting will workaround such issues.
In order to check the number of processors detected, use the nodes info API with the os flag.




