Deleting a node from a clustered system by using the management GUI

Remove a node from a system if the node fails and is being replaced with a new node, or if a repair causes that node to be unrecognizable by the system.

Before you begin

The cache on the selected node is flushed before the node is taken offline. In some circumstances, such as when the system is already degraded (for example, when both nodes in the I/O group are online and the volumes within the I/O group are degraded), the system ensures that data loss does not occur as a result of deleting the only node with the cache data. If a failure occurs on the other node in the I/O group, the cache is flushed before the node is removed to prevent data loss.

Before you delete a node from the system, record the node serial number , worldwide node name (WWNN), all worldwide port names (WWPNs), and the I/O group that the node is part of. If the node is added to the system later, recording this node information now can avoid data corruption.

Attention:
  • If you are removing a single node and the remaining node in the I/O group is online, the data on the remaining node goes into write-through mode. This data can be exposed to a single point of failure if the remaining node fails.
  • If the volumes are already degraded before you remove a node, redundancy to the volumes is degraded. Removing a node might result in a loss of access to data and data loss.
  • Removing the last node in the system destroys the system. Before you remove the last node in the system, ensure that you want to destroy the system.
  • When you remove a node, you remove all redundancy from the I/O group. As a result, new or existing failures can cause I/O errors on the hosts. The following failures can occur:
    • Host configuration errors
    • Zoning errors
    • Multipathing-software configuration errors
  • If you are deleting the last node in an I/O group and there are volumes that are assigned to the I/O group, you cannot remove the node from the system if the node is online. You must back up or migrate all data that you want to save before you remove the node. If the node is offline, you can remove the node.
  • When you remove the configuration node, the configuration function moves to a different node within the system. This process can take a short time, typically less than a minute. The management GUI reattaches to the new configuration node transparently.
  • If you turn on the power to the node that is removed and it is still connected to the same fabric or zone, it attempts to rejoin the system. The system tells the node to remove itself from the system and the node becomes a candidate for addition to this system or another system.
  • If you are adding this node into the system, ensure that you add it to the same I/O group that it was previously a member of. Failure to do so can result in data corruption.

This task assumes that you access the management GUI.

About this task

Complete the following steps to remove a node from a system:

Procedure

  1. Select Monitoring > System.
  2. On the System -- Overview page, use the directional arrow next to the node.
  3. On the Node -- Details page, select Node Actions > Remove.

    If the node that you want to remove is shown as Offline, then the node is not participating in the system.

    If the node that you want to remove is shown as Online, deleting the node can result in the dependent volumes to also go offline. Verify whether the node has any dependent volumes. To verify dependent volumes, select Node Actions > Dependent Volumes.