How to remove a VxRail 4.7 Node from it’s Cluster

There are instances where you may need to remove a node from your VxRail cluster.  One instance may be moving the host from one cluster to another (ensure host is at same code level as the new cluster).  Another instance you may be you are wanting to shrink a large cluster into two smaller manageable clusters.

High Level Steps:

1. In vCenter place host into maintenance mode – Full data migration
2. Remove host from vCenter inventory
3. SSH into VxRail Manager with Mystic credentials and SU to Root
4. cd into /mystic/node_remove
5. Run pythose node remove.py
6. Input vCenter information
7. Select number of host you want to remove

Step 1. — Place host in maintenance mode

Ensure accessibility

This is the default option. When you power off or remove the host from the cluster, vSAN ensures that all accessible virtual machines on this host remain accessible. Select this option if you want to take the host out of the cluster temporarily, for example, to install upgrades, and plan to have the host back in the cluster.

Full data migration

vSAN evacuates all data to other hosts in the cluster, maintains or fixes availability compliance for the affected components, and protects data when sufficient resources exist in the cluster. Select this option if you plan to migrate the host permanently.

No data migration

vSAN does not evacuate any data from this host. If you power off or remove the host from the cluster, some virtual machines might become unaccessible.

Select Full data migration option since the goal is to never have this host return.

Step 2. — Remove from inventory

This is simple and easy.  Once the host has entered into maintenance mode select right click>remove from inventory

Step 3 — SSH into VxRail Manager

#cd /mystic/node_remove

#python node_remove.py

Input vcenter IP

Input vCenter username

Input vCenter password

Y to continue

Select the number of the host you removed from vCenter already

Wait about 15 minutes and you’ll notice the critical status under Overall Health in your VxRail Manager will go away. The host has now been removed from VxRail Manager.

Summary:
Not a difficult process but it does require the extra step of removing the host from VxRail Manager.  This is the process to follow if you are trying to move hosts from one cluster to another or shrink a cluster.