Changing the number of shards for the Elasticsearch Metrics index

If your environment requires, you can change the default number of shards that will be assigned to the Elasticsearch Metrics index when it is created.

Before you begin

If you migrate data from an old metrics database or when you deploy the Elasticsearch Metrics component to users, events in Connections will trigger the creation of an Elasticsearch index for Metrics. The default number of shards for this index is five. If you want to change this default, you should do so before the index is created, as the new value applies only to future indices. Changing the number of shards after the Metrics component is already deployed requires that the index be recreated.

Important: Because additional shards in an Elasticsearch index consume resources and can affect performance depending on how the shards are used, change this default only when you have carefully weighed the advantages and disadvantages of doing so in your environment.

Procedure

Modify LotusConnections-config.xml (in the DMGR folder) by adding the following generic property, changing 5 to the number of shards that you need:
```
<genericProperty name="com.ibm.lconn.metrics.numShardsPerIndex">number of shards</genericProperty>
```
Synchronize the nodes.

What to do next

To use the new shard number when the index is created, the MetricsEventCapture app (already running on WebSphere Application Server) will need to be restarted. You can restart MetricsEventsCapture as part of your next task for configuring Elasticsearch metrics: Enabling Elasticsearch Metrics to connect to a Component Pack server.