---
title: Mixed master nodes
description: Describes what AutoOps detects and surfaces with the Mixed master nodes insight: The cluster already has dedicated master nodes, but other nodes still hold the master role.
url: https://www.elastic.co/docs/reference/autoops-insights/elasticsearch/mixed_master_nodes
products:
  - Elastic Cloud Enterprise
  - Elastic Cloud on Kubernetes
  - Elasticsearch
applies_to:
  - Elastic Cloud on Kubernetes: Generally available
  - Elastic Cloud Enterprise: Generally available
  - Self-managed Elastic deployments: Generally available
---

# Mixed master nodes
The cluster already has dedicated master nodes, but other nodes still hold the master role. Best practice is dedicated master-eligible nodes only, with no master role on data or coordinating nodes.
<note>
  For a complete list of insights, refer to [AutoOps insights](https://www.elastic.co/docs/reference/autoops-insights/elasticsearch).
</note>


## Insight details


| Field     | Value                                         |
|-----------|-----------------------------------------------|
| Component | Elasticsearch                                 |
| Severity  | Medium                                        |
| Scope     | Cluster                                       |
| Domains   | performance, configuration, high-availability |


## Example: What you might see in AutoOps

The following is an example of what you might see when this insight is triggered. Real insights use live data and links from your deployment or cluster.

### Mixed master roles detected


#### What was detected

Dedicated master nodes present:
- es-master-01, es-master-02, es-master-03

Nodes with an unnecessary master role:
- es-data-01


#### Recommendations

<note>
  AutoOps shows different recommendations depending on how their conditions match your deployment or cluster.
</note>

<dropdown title="Add dedicated master nodes">
  **Condition**: Shown when less than 3 dedicated master-eligible nodes.Add 12 dedicated master node(s) so the cluster has three dedicated masters.
</dropdown>

<dropdown title="Remove master role from data nodes">
  **Condition**: Shown when non-dedicated nodes hold the master role.Remove the master role from nodes that are not dedicated master nodes.
</dropdown>


#### Background and impact

When dedicated masters exist alongside other master-eligible data or coordinating nodes, election and cluster-state work can still land on non-dedicated nodes. That mixes master load with data or coordinating work and makes failure behavior harder to reason about.
Prefer three dedicated master-eligible nodes and remove the master role from all other nodes.