---
title: Setting a Replica-Minimum
description: A required minimum can be established for the number of replicas
  configured for a bucket.
pubDate: 2026-08-17T09:53:44.266Z
antora:
  editUrl: https://github.com/couchbase/docs-server/edit/release/7.6/modules/rest-api/pages/setting-minimum-replicas.adoc
  xref: xref:7.6@server:rest-api:setting-minimum-replicas.adoc[]
---

[Consult the llms.txt file for a full list of contents](/llms.txt)
[View original HTML](/server/7.6/rest-api/setting-minimum-replicas.html)

# Setting a Replica-Minimum

> A required minimum can be established for the number of replicas configured for a bucket. 

## [](#http-methods-and-uris)HTTP Methods and URIs

POST /settings/dataService

GET /settings/dataService

## [](#description)Description

Used with the `POST` method, the URI specifies an integer that establishes a required minimum for the number of replicas subsequently configured for every new bucket. Existing buckets are unaffected, and may continue to be used with their existing replica-configuration, even if the number is below the new minimum.

Used with the `GET` method, the URI returns the current minimum.

## [](#curl-syntax)Curl Syntax

curl -X POST http://<ip-address-or-domain-name>:8091/settings/dataService
  -u <username>:<password>
  -d minReplicasCount=<integer>

curl -X GET http://<ip-address-or-domain-name>:8091/settings/dataService
  -u <username>:<password>

The `integer` specified as the value of the `minReplicasCount` parameter must be an integer from `0` to `3`. This integer establishes a minimum for the number of replicas that may be configured.

## [](#responses)Responses

Failure to authenticate returns `401 Unauthorized`. An incorrectly expressed URI returns `404 Object Not Found`. Specifying a minimum outside the required range returns `400 Bad Request`, and the following object: `{"errors":{"minReplicasCount":"The value must be in range from 0 to 3"}}`.

## [](#examples)Examples

The following example establishes `2` as the minimum number of replicas required for each subsequently created bucket.

curl -v -X POST http://localhost:8091/settings/dataService -d minReplicasCount=2 -u Administrator:password

If successful, the call returns the following confirmation:

{"minReplicasCount":2}

The current established minimum number can be returned as follows:

curl -v -X GET http://localhost:8091/settings/dataService -u Administrator:password

Again, if the call is successful, the following confirmation is returned:

{"minReplicasCount":2}

In consequence of the established minimum, any attempt to create a bucket with a number of replicas that is less than the minimum generates an error, and the bucket is not created. The following example attempts to create a bucket with only `1` replica, while the established minimum is `2`. The output is piped to the [jq](https://jqlang.github.io/jq/) program, to facilitate readability:

curl -v -X POST http://localhost:8091/pools/default/buckets -d name=testBucket1 -d ramQuota=100 -d replicaNumber=1 -u Administrator:password  | jq '.'

This call fails with `400 Bad Request`, and returns the following summary:

{
  "errors": {
    "replicaNumber": "Replica number must be equal to or greater than 2"
  },
  "summaries": {
    "ramSummary": {
      "total": 1610612736,
      "otherBuckets": 0,
      "nodesCount": 3,
      "perNodeMegs": 100,
      "thisAlloc": 314572800,
      "thisUsed": 0,
      "free": 1296039936
    },
    "hddSummary": {
      "total": 396484890624,
      "otherData": 17181011926,
      "otherBuckets": 0,
      "thisUsed": 0,
      "free": 379303878698
    }
  }
}

The value of `replicaNumber` is a string describing the error. The `summaries` subdocument contains two objects: `ramSummary` and `hddSummary`, which respectively describe quota and usage for memory and disk. Figures are in Bytes, unless otherwise stated.

## [](#see-also)See Also

An explanation of replication is provided in [vBuckets](../learn/buckets-memory-and-storage/vbuckets.md).