Remove node

Question

Hi All,

I have a Failover Cluster Manager setup with three nodes, all running Windows Server 2019. These nodes are part of an Always On Availability Group for SQL Server. I want to remove Node3 from the cluster. Node3 has already been removed from the replica in the SQL Availability Group. To remove Node3 from Failover Cluster Manager, is it sufficient to right-click on Node3, select More Actions, and then choose Evict?

Answer 1

Hi, I am Henry, I will help you with this.

Please follow these below steps to safely remove Node3 from the Failover Cluster:

1. Verify that Node3 is no longer hosting any cluster roles
   • As you share that Node3 is no longer part of the SQL Server Availability Group (AG), in Failover Cluster Manager, confirm that no clustered roles (e.g., File Server, Cluster Quorum, etc.) are running on Node3.
   • Navigate to Roles and check if any are assigned to Node3.
   • If any roles exist, move them to another node before proceeding.
2. If you were using Node Majority Quorum, removing a node may require adjusting the quorum settings
   • Run in PowerShell (Admin): Get-ClusterQuorum
   • If needed, reconfigure quorum (e.g., switch to Node Majority if you now have an even number of nodes).
3. Evict Node3 from the Cluster
   • Open Failover Cluster Manager.
   • Navigate to Nodes
   • Right-click Node3 → More Actions → Evict.

Confirm the eviction when prompted.

1. Post-Eviction Steps
   • Clean up Node3’s cluster configuration (optional but recommended):
   • On Node3, open PowerShell (Admin) and run: Clear-ClusterNode -Force (This removes residual cluster metadata.)
   • Remove Node3 from DNS (if it was registered with a Cluster Network Name)
2. Important Considerations
   • Evicting is the correct method – It cleanly removes the node from the cluster.
   • Node3 will no longer participate in failover or quorum voting after eviction.
   • If Node3 was part of a Dynamic Quorum, the cluster will automatically adjust.
   • If you had a File Share Witness (FSW) or Cloud Witness, ensure the remaining nodes can still form quorum.
3. Final Checks
   • After eviction, Node3 will still have the Failover Clustering feature installed but will no longer be part of the cluster.
   • If you plan to reuse Node3 in another cluster, you may need to run: Remove-WindowsFeature -Name Failover-Clustering (Then reinstall if needed.)