removeShard

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Compatibility

Syntax
Behavior
Example

removeShard: Removes a shard from a sharded cluster. When you run removeShard, MongoDB drains the shard by using the balancer to move the shard's chunks to other shards in the cluster. Once the shard is drained, MongoDB removes the shard from the cluster.

Compatibility

This command is available in deployments hosted in the following environments:

MongoDB Atlas: The fully managed service for MongoDB deployments in the cloud

Important

This command is not supported in M10+ clusters or serverless instances. For more information, see Unsupported Commands.

MongoDB Enterprise: The subscription-based, self-managed version of MongoDB
MongoDB Community: The source-available, free-to-use, and self-managed version of MongoDB

Syntax

To run, from a mongos instance, issue the command against the admin database:

db.adminCommand( { removeShard : <shardToRemove> } )

Behavior

No Cluster Back Ups During Shard Removal

You cannot back up the cluster data during shard removal.

Concurrent `removeShard` Operations

You can have more than one removeShard operation in progress.

Access Requirements

If you have authorization enabled, you must have the clusterManager role or any role that includes the removeShard action.

Database Migration Requirements

Each database in a sharded cluster has a primary shard. If the shard you want to remove is also the primary of one of the cluster's databases, then you must manually move the databases to a new shard after migrating all data from the shard. See the movePrimary command and the Remove Shards from an Existing Sharded Cluster for more information.

Chunk Balancing

When you remove a shard in a cluster with an uneven chunk distribution, the balancer first removes the chunks from the draining shard and then balances the remaining uneven chunk distribution.

Tip

Write Concern

mongos converts the write concern of the removeShard command to "majority".

Change Streams

A shard removal may cause an open change stream cursor to close, and the closed change stream cursor may not be fully resumable.

Example

From mongosh, the removeShard operation resembles the following:

db.adminCommand( { removeShard : "bristol01" } )

Replace bristol01 with the name of the shard to remove. When you run removeShard, the command returns with a message that resembles the following:

{
   "msg" : "draining started successfully",
   "state" : "started",
   "shard" : "bristol01",
   "note" : "you need to drop or movePrimary these databases",
   "dbsToMove" : [
      "fizz",
      "buzz"
   ],
   "ok" : 1,
   "operationTime" : Timestamp(1575398919, 2),
   "$clusterTime" : {
      "clusterTime" : Timestamp(1575398919, 2),
      "signature" : {
         "hash" : BinData(0,"Oi68poWCFCA7b9kyhIcg+TzaGiA="),
         "keyId" : NumberLong("6766255701040824328")
      }
   }
}

The balancer begins migrating ("draining") chunks from the shard named bristol01 to other shards in the cluster. These migrations happen slowly in order to avoid placing undue load on the cluster.

The output includes the field dbsToMove indicating the databases for which bristol01 is the primary shard. After all chunks have been drained from the shard, you must either movePrimary for the database(s) or alternatively, drop these databases.

Note

If the shard you are removing is not the primary shard for any database, the dbsToMove array will be empty and removeShard can complete the migration without intervention.

If you run the command again, removeShard returns the current status of the process. For example, if the operaton is in an ongoing state, the command returns an output that resembles the following:

{
   "msg" : "draining ongoing",
   "state" : "ongoing",
   "remaining" : {
      "chunks" : NumberLong(2),
      "dbs" : NumberLong(2),
      "jumboChunks" : NumberLong(0)
   },
   "note" : "you need to drop or movePrimary these databases",
   "dbsToMove" : [
      "fizz",
      "buzz"
   ],
   "ok" : 1,
   "operationTime" : Timestamp(1575399086, 1655),
   "$clusterTime" : {
      "clusterTime" : Timestamp(1575399086, 1655),
      "signature" : {
         "hash" : BinData(0,"XBrTmjMMe82fUtVLRm13GBVtRE8="),
         "keyId" : NumberLong("6766255701040824328")
      }
   }
}

In the output, the remaining field includes the following fields:

Field	Description
`chunks`	Total number of chunks currently remaining on the shard.
`dbs`	Total number of databases whose primary shard is the shard. These databases are specified in the `dbsToMove` output field.
`jumboChunks`	Of the total number of `chunks`, the number that are jumbo. If the `jumboChunks` is greater than 0, wait until only the `jumboChunks` remain on the shard. Once only the jumbo chunks remain, you must manually clear the jumbo flag before the draining can complete. See Clear `jumbo` Flag. After the `jumbo` flag clears, the balancer can migrate these chunks. For details on the migration procedure, see Chunk Migration Procedure.

Continue checking the status of the removeShard command (i.e. rerun the command) until the number of chunks remaining is 0.

{
   "msg" : "draining ongoing",
   "state" : "ongoing",
   "remaining" : {
      "chunks" : NumberLong(0),             // All chunks have moved
      "dbs" : NumberLong(2),
      "jumboChunks" : NumberLong(0)
   },
   "note" : "you need to drop or movePrimary these databases",
   "dbsToMove" : [
      "fizz",
      "buzz"
   ],
   "ok" : 1,
   "operationTime" : Timestamp(1575400343, 1),
   "$clusterTime" : {
      "clusterTime" : Timestamp(1575400343, 1),
      "signature" : {
         "hash" : BinData(0,"9plu5B/hw4uWAgEmjjBP3syw1Zk="),
         "keyId" : NumberLong("6766255701040824328")
      }
   }
}

After all chunks have been drained from the shard, if you have dbsToMove, you can either movePrimary for those databases or alternatively, drop the databases (which deletes the associated data files).

After the balancer completes moving all chunks off the shard and you have handled the dbsToMove, removeShard can finish. Running removeShard again returns output that resembles the following:

{
   "msg" : "removeshard completed successfully",
   "state" : "completed",
   "shard" : "bristol01",
   "ok" : 1,
   "operationTime" : Timestamp(1575400370, 2),
   "$clusterTime" : {
      "clusterTime" : Timestamp(1575400370, 2),
      "signature" : {
         "hash" : BinData(0,"JjSRciHECXDBXo0e5nJv9mdRG8M="),
         "keyId" : NumberLong("6766255701040824328")
      }
   }
}

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