What occurs when you remove a server from a cluster

When the removed server detects the change to its Domino® Directory that indicates the server was removed from a cluster, the Cluster Administrator on that server performs certain tasks.

The Cluster Administrator does the following:

Stops the Cluster Replicator.
Stops the Cluster Database Directory Manager.
Replicates the Cluster Database Directory, the Domino® Directory, and the Free Time database (CLUBUSY.NSF) to the most available cluster server. This ensures that the other cluster servers receive all changes from the server being removed.
Removes the Cluster Database Directory (CLDBDIR.NSF) from the server.
Removes the server Database documents from the Cluster Database Directory of the most available cluster server. These changes then replicate to other members of the cluster. You can view the Cluster Database Directory to verify that the removal occurred correctly.

Note: It is possible to remove a server from a cluster even if the server is shut down. However, the documents for this server's databases remain in the Cluster Database Directory. To remove these documents, open the Cluster Database Directory, select the Databases by Server view, and manually remove the documents for the server.

The role of the Administration Process in removing a server from a cluster

You can choose to remove a server from a cluster immediately, or you can submit the request to the Administration Process. If you submit the request to the Administration Process, Domino® creates a Remove Server from Cluster request to the Administration Requests database on the server from which you initiated the Remove from Cluster request. If you make the request on the administration server, the Administration Process acts immediately on the request. If you make the request from another server, that server's Administration Requests database must replicate with the administration server before the Administration Process can process your request. The Administration Process then removes the cluster information from the Server document in the administration server's Domino® Directory. The next time the administrative server replicates with the removed server, Domino® replicates these changes to the removed server's Domino® Directory. Cluster membership changes do not take effect until the removed server receives the changes to the Server document.

If you choose to remove a server from a cluster immediately, Domino® immediately makes the changes to the Server document on the server from which you initiated the Remove from Cluster command. If you initiate the request on the server you are removing, Domino® updates the cluster information immediately on the server you're removing. You do not have to wait for the Administration Process to update the Domino® Directories on the cluster servers. Although this removes the server from the cluster faster, it can also lead to replication conflicts.