diff --git a/apps/emqx_durable_storage/src/emqx_ds_replication_layer_meta.erl b/apps/emqx_durable_storage/src/emqx_ds_replication_layer_meta.erl
index fbc55fb2d..a8bc0814a 100644
--- a/apps/emqx_durable_storage/src/emqx_ds_replication_layer_meta.erl
+++ b/apps/emqx_durable_storage/src/emqx_ds_replication_layer_meta.erl
@@ -292,6 +292,7 @@ allocate_shards_trans(DB, Opts) ->
     NShards = maps:get(n_shards, Opts),
     NSites = maps:get(n_sites, Opts),
     ReplicationFactor = maps:get(replication_factor, Opts),
+    NReplicas = min(NSites, ReplicationFactor),
     Shards = [integer_to_binary(I) || I <- lists:seq(0, NShards - 1)],
     AllSites = mnesia:match_object(?NODE_TAB, #?NODE_TAB{_ = '_'}, read),
     case length(AllSites) of
@@ -307,12 +308,18 @@ allocate_shards_trans(DB, Opts) ->
             ShardsAllocated = [Shard || #?SHARD_TAB{shard = {_DB, Shard}} <- Records],
             mnesia:abort({shards_already_allocated, ShardsAllocated})
     end,
+    {Allocation, _} = lists:mapfoldl(
+        fun(Shard, SSites) ->
+            {Sites, _} = emqx_utils_stream:consume(NReplicas, SSites),
+            {_, SRest} = emqx_utils_stream:consume(1, SSites),
+            {{Shard, Sites}, SRest}
+        end,
+        emqx_utils_stream:repeat(emqx_utils_stream:list(AllSites)),
+        Shards
+    ),
     lists:map(
-        fun(Shard) ->
-            Hashes0 = [{hash(Shard, Site), Site} || #?NODE_TAB{site = Site} <- AllSites],
-            Hashes = lists:sort(Hashes0),
-            {_, Sites} = lists:unzip(Hashes),
-            ReplicaSet = lists:sublist(Sites, 1, ReplicationFactor),
+        fun({Shard, Sites}) ->
+            ReplicaSet = [Site || #?NODE_TAB{site = Site} <- Sites],
             Record = #?SHARD_TAB{
                 shard = {DB, Shard},
                 replica_set = ReplicaSet
@@ -320,7 +327,7 @@ allocate_shards_trans(DB, Opts) ->
             ok = mnesia:write(Record),
             Shard
         end,
-        Shards
+        Allocation
     ).
 
 -spec update_db_config_trans(emqx_ds:db(), emqx_ds_replication_layer:builtin_db_opts()) ->
@@ -413,10 +420,6 @@ ensure_site() ->
     persistent_term:put(?emqx_ds_builtin_site, Site),
     ok.
 
--spec hash(emqx_ds_replication_layer:shard_id(), site()) -> any().
-hash(Shard, Site) ->
-    erlang:phash2({Shard, Site}).
-
 eval_qlc(Q) ->
     case mnesia:is_transaction() of
         true ->