[[delete-desired-balance]]
=== Reset desired balance API
++++
<titleabbrev>Reset desired balance</titleabbrev>
++++

NOTE: {cloud-only}

Discards the current <<shards-rebalancing-heuristics,desired balance>> and computes a new desired balance starting from the current allocation of shards.
This can sometimes help {es} find a desired balance which needs fewer shard movements to achieve, especially if the
cluster has experienced changes so substantial that the current desired balance is no longer optimal without {es} having
detected that the current desired balance will take more shard movements to achieve than needed. However, this API
imposes a heavy load on the elected master node and may not always have the expected effect. Calling this API should
never be necessary. Consider instead <<shards-rebalancing-heuristics,increasing the value of
`cluster.routing.allocation.balance.threshold`>> to avoid excessive shard movements.

[[delete-desired-balance-request]]
==== {api-request-title}

[source,console]
--------------------------------------------------
DELETE /_internal/desired_balance
--------------------------------------------------
// TEST[skip:Can't reliably test desired balance]
