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Clarify index settings & APIs that are not available in serverless #1728

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Expand Up @@ -162,7 +162,10 @@ These recommendations do not apply to indices using better binary quantization (

## Available {{es}} APIs [elasticsearch-differences-serverless-apis-availability]

Because {{serverless-full}} manages infrastructure automatically, certain Elasticsearch APIs are not available:
In {{serverless-full}}, access is limited to a subset of {{es}} APIs, as Elastic manages the underlying infrastructure. These restrictions help maintain cluster stability, availability, and data integrity, ensuring reliable operation of Serverless projects.

The following {{es}} APIs are not available in {{serverless-full}}:


Infrastructure operations
: * All `_nodes/*` operations
Expand Down Expand Up @@ -201,7 +204,7 @@ Refer to the [{{es-serverless}} API reference](https://www.elastic.co/docs/api/d

## Available {{es}} settings [elasticsearch-differences-serverless-settings-availability]

In {{serverless-full}} Elasticsearch projects, you can only configure [index-level settings](elasticsearch://reference/elasticsearch/index-settings/index.md). Cluster-level settings and node-level settings are fully managed by Elastic.
In {{serverless-full}} {{es}} projects, configuration available to users is limited to certain [index-level settings](elasticsearch://reference/elasticsearch/index-settings/index.md), while Elastic manages cluster-level and node-level settings to maintain stability, availability, performance, and data integrity. These restrictions help ensure the reliability of Serverless projects.
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is this limited to elasticsearch projects? as far as I know, this applies to all project types because they all use elasticsearch as an underlying technology / you can always configure index settings

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@kunisen kunisen Jun 21, 2025

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No, I don't think so. IIUC, it should be long to Elasticsearch itself but not Elasticsearch project. (ES used in other project type also should follow this)
I get your point and I think we can just remove Elasticsearch (or {{es}}).

cc @ppf2 for double check in case he has more insights.

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+1 The ability to configure index settings and execute Elasticsearch APIs apply to all project types on Serverless, not just Elasticsearch (even though this tends to impact Elasticsearch project types more than other types).


Available settings
: **Index-level settings**: Settings that control how documents are processed, stored, and searched are available to end users. These include:
Expand All @@ -219,6 +222,24 @@ Managed settings
* Shard allocation
* Resource management

When attempting to use an unavailable index setting, you'll receive this error:

```json
{
"error": {
"root_cause": [
{
"type": "illegal_argument_exception",
"reason": "Settings [xyz] are not available when running in serverless mode"
}
],
"type": "illegal_argument_exception",
"reason": "Settings [xyz] are not available when running in serverless mode"
},
"status": 400
}
```

## Learn more

- [{{serverless-full}} roadmap](https://www.elastic.co/cloud/serverless/roadmap): See upcoming features and development plans for the Serverless platform
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