---
title: Rejected search
description: Describes what AutoOps detects and surfaces with the Rejected search insight: One or more nodes are rejecting search requests.
url: https://www.elastic.co/docs/reference/autoops-insights/elasticsearch/rejected_search
products:
  - Elastic Cloud Enterprise
  - Elastic Cloud Hosted
  - Elastic Cloud on Kubernetes
  - Elasticsearch
applies_to:
  - Elastic Cloud Hosted: Generally available
  - Elastic Cloud on Kubernetes: Generally available
  - Elastic Cloud Enterprise: Generally available
  - Self-managed Elastic deployments: Generally available
---

# Rejected search
One or more nodes are rejecting search requests. Clients see errors, timeouts, or partial results instead of completed searches.
<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  | High                           |
| Scope     | Node                           |
| Domains   | performance, search, stability |


## Customization settings

You can customize these settings to adjust when AutoOps detects this event and presents the insight. Refer to [AutoOps event settings](https://docs-edge.elastic.dev/docs/deploy-manage/monitor/autoops/ec-autoops-event-settings) for details.
The default customization settings are:

| Setting                             | Type    | Default |
|-------------------------------------|---------|---------|
| Rejected search count threshold     | Integer | `1`     |
| Consecutive samples above threshold | Integer | `1`     |

<tip>
  Raising these thresholds reduces noise but delays detection. Lowering them triggers the insight sooner but can increase alerts during minor blips.
</tip>


## 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.

### Search requests are being rejected on es-data-01


#### What was detected

Search requests are being rejected on `es-data-01` and `es-data-02`.
- Indices with high search activity: `logs-prod-000045`


#### Recommendations

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

<dropdown title="Increase replica count">
  **Condition**: Shown when high-searching activity is detected and if index has no replica.Set `number_of_replicas` to 1 on logs-prod-000045 (currently 2) using the action below.
  ```json

  {
    "index": {
      "number_of_replicas": 1
    }
  }
  ```

  <note>
    Requires the `manage` index privilege. Requires Elasticsearch 8.0.0 or later. This action changes cluster or index configuration.
  </note>
</dropdown>

<dropdown title="Enable and review search slow logs">
  **Condition**: Shown when search rejections occur on the node.Enable search slow logs with the action below, then review the slow log to find expensive queries. See [Slow logs](https://docs-edge.elastic.dev/docs/deploy-manage/monitor/logging-configuration/slow-logs) for configuration details.
  ```json

  {
    "index.search.slowlog.threshold.query.warn": "10s",
    "index.search.slowlog.threshold.query.info": "5s",
    "index.search.slowlog.threshold.query.debug": "2s",
    "index.search.slowlog.threshold.query.trace": "500ms",
    "index.search.slowlog.threshold.fetch.warn": "1s",
    "index.search.slowlog.threshold.fetch.info": "800ms",
    "index.search.slowlog.threshold.fetch.debug": "500ms",
    "index.search.slowlog.threshold.fetch.trace": "200ms"
  }
  ```

  <note>
    Requires the `manage` index privilege. Requires Elasticsearch 8.0.0 or later. This action changes cluster or index configuration.
  </note>
</dropdown>

<dropdown title="Add data node">
  **Condition**: Shown when high-searching activity is detected and if index has more than twice as many pri/rep shards as available data nodes.Add a data node to increase capacity and reduce pressure on the existing nodes.
</dropdown>


#### Background and impact

When Elasticsearch rejects search requests, callers receive errors instead of results. That breaks dashboards and applications that depend on those queries.
Rejections often follow sustained search pressure: a full or backed-up search thread pool, queries that are too expensive for available memory or CPU, or circuit breakers that trip while building responses. After an upgrade, incompatible query DSL can also cause rejections.
If rejections continue, search availability stays degraded until load drops, queries are fixed, or capacity increases.