``{pg-num}``
-:Description: The total number of placement groups for the pool
+:Description: The total number of placement groups for the pool. See `Placement
+ Groups`_ for details on calculating a suitable number. The
+ default value ``8`` is NOT suitable for most systems.
+
:Type: Integer
-:Required: No
+:Required: Yes
+:Default: 8
``{pgp-num}``
-:Description: The total number of placement groups for placement purposes.
-:Type: Integer
-:Required: No
-
-When you create a pool, you should consider setting the number of
-placement groups.
+:Description: The total number of placement groups for placement purposes. This
+ **should be equal to the total number of placement groups**, except
+ for placement group splitting scenarios.
-.. important:: You cannot change the number of placement groups in a pool
- after you create it.
+:Type: Integer
+:Required: Yes
+:Default: 8
+
+When you create a pool, set the number of placement groups to a reasonable value
+(e.g., ``100``). Consider the total number of placement groups per OSD too.
+Placement groups are computationally expensive, so performance will degrade when
+you have many pools with many placement groups (e.g., 50 pools with 100
+placement groups each). The point of diminishing returns depends upon the power
+of the OSD host.
+
+.. important:: Increasing the number of placement groups in a pool after you
+ create the pool is still an experimental feature in Bobtail (v 0.56). We
+ recommend defining a reasonable number of placement groups and maintaining
+ that number until Ceph's placement group splitting and merging
+ functionality matures.
See `Placement Groups`_ for details on calculating an appropriate number of
placement groups for your pool.