Decommission Simplivitys in a federation spanning multiple locations w/ linked mode VCSAs

[Brian_Galante]

Hi,

I need to decommission a set of Simplivity servers that are part of a federation spanning multiple locations and the VCSA's are in linked mode. One of the VCSA's would also be decommed so I would need to unlink them first.

I have never decommissioned a simplivity before or removed one from a federation and I'm unsure of the order which I should proceed?

Should I remove the servers from the federation 1st, then unlink the VCSA's or vise versa?

[Sanika]

Hello @Brian_Galante 

As per my understanding, the correct approach can be to uplink the VCSA first and then remove the SimpliVity servers from the federation. This is because as you mentioned, the SimpliVity federation spans multiple locations and the VCSA instances are in linked mode. Since one of the VCSAs is being decommissioned, unlinking it first ensures that any dependencies between SimpliVity and the VCSA being decommissioned are handled properly before making changes to the federation.
Unlinking the VCSA first prevents unexpected disruptions in the management of the SimpliVity federation, as SimpliVity relies on vCenter for its management and operations.

After unlinking the VCSA, you can then proceed to remove the SimpliVity servers from the federation gracefully.

You may contact HPE SimpliVity support if you are not sure about the effect of unlinking vCenter before or after removing Simplivity servers. They can provide guidance specific to your environment.

Regards,
Sanika.

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[Steven Clementi]

If you unlink the vCenter first, I would assume the Federation would split and be replicated on the unlinked vCenter.  If so, then wouldn't both systems still know about the SimpliVity nodes that were 'In the Federation", or does the unlinking remove that set of nodes from the opposing federation?

Personally, I think it would be safer/cleaner to evict the nodes from the federation first so that the whole federation knows that they are gone... then getting rid of the vCenter is a no brainer, or should be.  I could be very wrong...