Decommissioning a client node

If a client node is no longer required, you can start a process to remove it from the production environment. For example, if a workstation was backing up data to the IBM Spectrum® Protect server, but the workstation is no longer used, you can decommission the workstation.

About this task

When you start the decommission process, the server locks the client node to prevent it from accessing the server. Files that belong to the client node are gradually deleted, and then the client node is deleted. You can decommission the following types of client nodes:

Application client nodes

Application client nodes include email servers, databases, and other applications. For example, any of the following applications can be an application client node:

IBM Spectrum Protect Snapshot
IBM Spectrum Protect for Databases
IBM Spectrum Protect for Enterprise Resource Planning
IBM Spectrum Protect for Mail
IBM Spectrum Protect for Virtual Environments

System client nodes

System client nodes include workstations, network-attached storage (NAS) file servers, and API clients.

Virtual machine client nodes

Virtual machine client nodes consist of an individual guest host within a hypervisor. Each virtual machine is represented as a file space.

Restriction: You cannot decommission an object client node.

The simplest method for decommissioning a client node is to use the Operations Center. The decommission process runs in the background. If the client is configured to replicate client data, the Operations Center automatically removes the client from replication on the source and target replication servers before it decommissions the client.

Tip: Alternatively, you can decommission a client node by issuing the DECOMMISSION NODE or DECOMMISSION VM command. You might want to use this method in the following cases:

To schedule the decommission process for the future or to run a series of commands by using a script, specify the decommission process to run in the background.
To monitor the decommission process for debugging purposes, specify the decommission process to run in the foreground. If you run the process in the foreground, you must wait for the process to be completed before you continue with other tasks.

Procedure

Take one of the following actions:

To decommission a client in the background by using the Operations Center, complete the following steps:
1. On the Operations Center Overview page, click Clients and select the client.
2. Click More > Decommission.
To decommission a client node by using an administrative command, take one of the following actions:
- To decommission an application or system client node in the background, issue the DECOMMISSION NODE command. For example, if the client node is named AUSTIN, issue the following command:
```
decommission node austin
```
- To decommission an application or system client node in the foreground, issue the DECOMMISSION NODE command and specify the wait=yes parameter. For example, if the client node is named AUSTIN, issue the following command:
```
decommission node austin wait=yes
```
- To decommission a virtual machine in the background, issue the DECOMMISSION VM command. For example, if the virtual machine is named AUSTIN, the file space is 7, and the file space name is specified by the file space ID, issue the following command:
```
decommission vm austin 7 nametype=fsid
```
  If the virtual machine name includes one or more spaces, enclose the name in double quotation marks. For example:
```
decommission vm "austin 2" 7 nametype=fsid
```
- To decommission a virtual machine in the foreground, issue the DECOMMISSION VM command and specify the wait=yes parameter. For example, issue the following command:
```
decommission vm austin 7 nametype=fsid wait=yes
```
  If the virtual machine name includes one or more spaces, enclose the name in double quotation marks. For example:
```
decommission vm "austin 2" 7 nametype=fsid wait=yes
```

What to do next

Watch for error messages, which might be displayed in the user interface or in the command output, immediately after you run the process.

You can verify that the client node is decommissioned:

On the Operations Center Overview page, click Clients.
In the Clients table, in the At risk column, review the state:
- A DECOMMISSIONED state specifies that the node is decommissioned.
- A null value specifies that the node is not decommissioned.
- A PENDING state specifies that the node is being decommissioned, or the decommission process failed.
Tip: If you want to determine the status of a pending decommission process, issue the following command:
```
query process
```
Review the command output:
- If status is provided for the decommission process, the process is in progress. For example:
```
query process

 Process     Process Description           Process Status
  Number
--------     --------------------     -------------------------------------------
       3          DECOMMISSION NODE        Number of backup objects deactivated 
                                           for node NODE1: 8 objects deactivated.
```
- If no status is provided for the decommission process, and you did not receive an error message, the process is incomplete. A process can be incomplete if files that are associated with the node are not yet deactivated. After the files are deactivated, run the decommission process again.
- If no status is provided for the decommission process, and you receive an error message, the process failed. Run the decommission process again.

Tip: To reset the status of a node or virtual machine that was previously decommissioned, use the following administrative commands:

To reset the status of a node that was previously decommissioned from the production environment by using the DECOMMISSION NODE command, use the RECOMMISSION NODE command.
To reset the status of a virtual machine file space that was previously decommissioned from the production environment by using the DECOMMISSION VM command, use the RECOMMISSION VM command.