diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/search/TransportSearchAction.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/search/TransportSearchAction.java
index 6b39af478f432..46207b94c3af4 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/search/TransportSearchAction.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/search/TransportSearchAction.java
@@ -341,13 +341,12 @@ private void executeSearch(SearchTask task, SearchTimeProvider timeProvider, Sea
             return searchTransportService.getConnection(clusterName, discoveryNode);
         };
         if (searchRequest.isMaxConcurrentShardRequestsSet() == false) {
-            // we try to set a default of max concurrent shard requests based on
-            // the node count but upper-bound it by 256 by default to keep it sane. A single
-            // search request that fans out lots of shards should hit a cluster too hard while 256 is already a lot.
-            // we multiply it by the default number of shards such that a single request in a cluster of 1 would hit all shards of a
-            // default index.
-            searchRequest.setMaxConcurrentShardRequests(Math.min(256, nodeCount
-                * IndexMetaData.INDEX_NUMBER_OF_SHARDS_SETTING.getDefault(Settings.EMPTY)));
+            /*
+             * We try to set a default of max concurrent shard requests based on the node count but upper-bound it by 256 by default to keep
+             * it sane. A single search request that fans out to lots of shards should not hit a cluster too hard while 256 is already a
+             * lot.
+             */
+            searchRequest.setMaxConcurrentShardRequests(Math.min(256, nodeCount));
         }
         boolean preFilterSearchShards = shouldPreFilterSearchShards(searchRequest, shardIterators);
         searchAsyncAction(task, searchRequest, shardIterators, timeProvider, connectionLookup, clusterState.version(),
diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/metadata/IndexMetaData.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/metadata/IndexMetaData.java
index 7af2ec2d237d2..db45ce6c9e353 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/metadata/IndexMetaData.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/cluster/metadata/IndexMetaData.java
@@ -181,8 +181,7 @@ static Setting<Integer> buildNumberOfShardsSetting() {
         if (maxNumShards < 1) {
             throw new IllegalArgumentException("es.index.max_number_of_shards must be > 0");
         }
-        return Setting.intSetting(SETTING_NUMBER_OF_SHARDS, Math.min(5, maxNumShards), 1, maxNumShards,
-            Property.IndexScope, Property.Final);
+        return Setting.intSetting(SETTING_NUMBER_OF_SHARDS, 1, 1, maxNumShards, Property.IndexScope, Property.Final);
     }
 
     public static final String INDEX_SETTING_PREFIX = "index.";