reallocate unassigned shards in elasticsearch

reassign.sh

NODE="a hostname"
IFS=$'\n'
for line in $(curl -s 'localhost:9200/_cat/shards' | fgrep UNASSIGNED); do
  INDEX=$(echo $line | (awk '{print $1}'))
  SHARD=$(echo $line | (awk '{print $2}'))

  curl -XPOST 'localhost:9200/_cluster/reroute?pretty' -d '{
     "commands": [
        {
            "allocate": {
                "index": "'$INDEX'",
                "shard": '$SHARD',
                "node": "'$NODE'",
                "allow_primary": true
          }
        }
    ]
  }'
done

credit where it is due: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/19967472/elasticsearch-unassigned-shards-how-to-fix