diff --git a/docs/reference/troubleshooting/common-issues/disk-usage-exceeded.asciidoc b/docs/reference/troubleshooting/common-issues/disk-usage-exceeded.asciidoc
index 7eb27d5428956..2222d09c26db2 100644
--- a/docs/reference/troubleshooting/common-issues/disk-usage-exceeded.asciidoc
+++ b/docs/reference/troubleshooting/common-issues/disk-usage-exceeded.asciidoc
@@ -106,6 +106,8 @@ As a long-term solution, we recommend you do one of the following best suited
 to your use case: 
 
 * add nodes to the affected <<data-tiers,data tiers>>
++
+TIP: You should enable <<xpack-autoscaling,autoscaling>> for clusters deployed using our {ess}, {ece}, and {eck} platforms.
 
 * upgrade existing nodes to increase disk space
 +
diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/TransportVersions.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/TransportVersions.java
index 17d3076bfa133..883e14e2231a7 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/TransportVersions.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/TransportVersions.java
@@ -176,6 +176,7 @@ static TransportVersion def(int id) {
     public static final TransportVersion CONVERT_FAILURE_STORE_OPTIONS_TO_SELECTOR_OPTIONS_INTERNALLY = def(8_772_00_0);
     public static final TransportVersion INFERENCE_DONT_PERSIST_ON_READ_BACKPORT_8_16 = def(8_772_00_1);
     public static final TransportVersion ADD_COMPATIBILITY_VERSIONS_TO_NODE_INFO_BACKPORT_8_16 = def(8_772_00_2);
+    public static final TransportVersion SKIP_INNER_HITS_SEARCH_SOURCE_BACKPORT_8_16 = def(8_772_00_3);
     public static final TransportVersion REMOVE_MIN_COMPATIBLE_SHARD_NODE = def(8_773_00_0);
     public static final TransportVersion REVERT_REMOVE_MIN_COMPATIBLE_SHARD_NODE = def(8_774_00_0);
     public static final TransportVersion ESQL_FIELD_ATTRIBUTE_PARENT_SIMPLIFIED = def(8_775_00_0);
diff --git a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/builder/SearchSourceBuilder.java b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/builder/SearchSourceBuilder.java
index e9aa07d143f7b..aa71d1ff069de 100644
--- a/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/builder/SearchSourceBuilder.java
+++ b/server/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/search/builder/SearchSourceBuilder.java
@@ -291,7 +291,8 @@ public SearchSourceBuilder(StreamInput in) throws IOException {
         if (in.getTransportVersion().onOrAfter(TransportVersions.V_8_8_0)) {
             rankBuilder = in.readOptionalNamedWriteable(RankBuilder.class);
         }
-        if (in.getTransportVersion().onOrAfter(TransportVersions.SKIP_INNER_HITS_SEARCH_SOURCE)) {
+        if (in.getTransportVersion().isPatchFrom(TransportVersions.SKIP_INNER_HITS_SEARCH_SOURCE_BACKPORT_8_16)
+            || in.getTransportVersion().onOrAfter(TransportVersions.SKIP_INNER_HITS_SEARCH_SOURCE)) {
             skipInnerHits = in.readBoolean();
         } else {
             skipInnerHits = false;
@@ -385,7 +386,8 @@ public void writeTo(StreamOutput out) throws IOException {
         } else if (rankBuilder != null) {
             throw new IllegalArgumentException("cannot serialize [rank] to version [" + out.getTransportVersion().toReleaseVersion() + "]");
         }
-        if (out.getTransportVersion().onOrAfter(TransportVersions.SKIP_INNER_HITS_SEARCH_SOURCE)) {
+        if (out.getTransportVersion().isPatchFrom(TransportVersions.SKIP_INNER_HITS_SEARCH_SOURCE_BACKPORT_8_16)
+            || out.getTransportVersion().onOrAfter(TransportVersions.SKIP_INNER_HITS_SEARCH_SOURCE)) {
             out.writeBoolean(skipInnerHits);
         }
     }
@@ -1866,9 +1868,6 @@ public XContentBuilder innerToXContent(XContentBuilder builder, Params params) t
         if (false == runtimeMappings.isEmpty()) {
             builder.field(RUNTIME_MAPPINGS_FIELD.getPreferredName(), runtimeMappings);
         }
-        if (skipInnerHits) {
-            builder.field("skipInnerHits", true);
-        }
 
         return builder;
     }