Removing a replica from a SQL Server Availability Group

Before you begin

• You must have a a SQL Server Availability Group with three or more replicas. This is because an Availability Group must have at least two replicas, and BDA does not allow you to remove any replicas if the result is fewer than two.

To remove a replica from a SQL Server Availability Group

1. From the Management Console, navigate to the Availability Group on which you want to remove the replica.
2. Select Provision > Remove Replica from SQL Server Availability Group.

3. In the General page, populate the following fields, and click Next.

   Field	Description
   Domain	Displays the BMC Database Automation domain for the Windows cluster hosting this Availability Group.
   Cluster	Displays the Windows cluster hosting this Availability Group.
   Availability Group Name	Displays the name of the Availability Group.
   Primary Replica	Displays the current primary replica for this Availability Group.
   Template	(Optional) Select from the list of defined Remove Replica from Mssql Availability Group templates to automate input during the wizard data collection. If you select a template, you may click Skip Ahead to advance directly to the next step that requires input. Any steps that have been configured by the information in the template will not appear.

4. In the Replicas Selection page, populate the following fields, and click Next.

   Section	Field	Description
   Available Replicas	Instance	Select the secondary replica that you want to remove from the Availability Group.
   	Initial Role	Displays the current role that this instance has in the Availability Group.
   Unavailable Replicas	Instance	Displays other replicas that cannot be removed from this Availability Group.
   	Reason	Displays the reason that the replicas cannot be removed from an Availability Group.
   Remove Secondary Databases		If this option is left unchecked, the selected replicas will be removed from the Availability Group and the identical copies of the databases that were in the replicas will exist on each instance hosting those replicas.  If this option is checked, BMC Database Automation will, after removing the selected replicas from the Availability Group, delete the identical copies of the databases that were in those replicas from the instances hosting them, leaving the only copies of the databases on the instances still hosting the Availability Group. Checking this option makes "Remove Replica from SQL Server Availability Group" leave both the Availability Group and the instances hosting the target replicas in the same state they were in before a corresponding "Add Replica to SQL Server Availability Group": the instances that don’t host replicas for the Availability Group do not have any of the databases being replicated by the Availability Group.

5. In the Custom Scripts Configuration page, select any pre-provisioning or post-provisioning scripts that you want to run as follows, and click Next.

   Section	Description
   Pre-Provisioning Scripts	(Optional) Select the scripts that you want to run before this event and click the right arrow to move them to the Selected list box. The scripts in Selected are run in the order listed. Use Move Up and Move Down to re-order the scripts when necessary. See also Managing pre-provisioning and post-provisioning script files.
   Post-Provisioning Scripts	(Optional) Select the scripts that you want to run after this event and click the right arrow to move them to the Selected list box. See also Managing pre-provisioning and post-provisioning script files.

6. In the Job Options page, specify any of the following Job options, and click Next.

   Type	Option	Description
   Notification Emails	Email List	(Optional) Click Add Email to add email addresses to the notification list.
   Job Administration	Cleanup Agent Logs	(Optional) Select to automatically remove logs that are generated by BMC Database Automation on the Agent after the Job is complete.

7. If the Change Control page displays, populate the following fields, and click Next.

   Section	Field	Description
   	Bypass Change Control	(Optional) Select to bypass using BMC Remedy ITSM to control the change process. Selecting this option removes the rest of the fields from this page.
   	Change Control Options	Select to determine whether to open a new BMC Remedy ITSM change ticket, or to use an existing BMC Remedy ITSM change ticket to control the change process. Selecting Use Existing Change Ticket displays the fields in the Use Existing Change Ticket section on this page. Selecting Create New Change Ticket displays the fields in the Create New Change Ticket section on this page.
   Use Existing Change Ticket	ITSM Change ID	Specify the BMC Remedy ITSM change ticket number to associate with this change process.
   	ITSM Task ID	Specify the BMC Remedy ITSM task ID number to associate with this change process.
   Create New Change Ticket	Change Type	Assign the type of change for the new BMC Remedy ITSM change ticket.
   	Change Impact	Assign the impact level of this change process for the new BMC Remedy ITSM change ticket.
   	Change Urgency	Assign the urgency level for the new BMC Remedy ITSM change ticket.
   	Change Risk-Level	Assign the risk level of this change process for the new BMC Remedy ITSM change ticket.
   	Change Class	Assign the change class for the new BMC Remedy ITSM change ticket.
   	Change Summary	Type a summary of the change process.

   Note

   The Change Control page appears only when change control is configured for your environment. See Configuring change control.

8. In the Summary page, review the provisioning information.
   To make changes, do the following:
   1. Click Go to to return to the provisioning step that you want to edit.
   2. Make your changes.
   3. Click Save and Review to return to the Summary page.
9. Specify your verification preferences.
   For additional information, see Understanding pre-verification tests.
   • To continue with removing the replicas from the availability group after the pre-verification tests have been successfully run without manual intervention, select Automatically Continue If All Tests Succeed.

   • To remove the replicas from the availability group without having first run the pre-verification steps, select Skip Pre-Verification Tests.

     Note

     The Skip Pre-Verification Tests option should only be used when you are certain all tests can succeed. The option skips verification and advances directly to the actual provisioning activity.

10. Click Remove Replica from SQL Server Availability Group.
    A progress page appears followed by a success message upon completion. The replicas no longer appears in the Contents page for this SQL Server Availability Group.

    Note

    Detailed current and historical information about this action can be viewed in the Jobs section of the Management Console. See Monitoring jobs and viewing job history.