Replace a vSphere Node

Prerequisites

Before you begin, you must:

• Create a workload cluster or create an air-gapped workload cluster.

• Make the new cluster self-managed.

Replace a worker node

In certain situations, you may want to delete a worker node and have Cluster API replace it with a newly-provisioned machine.

1. Identify the name of the node to delete.

   List the nodes:
   

   CODE

   kubectl --kubeconfig ${CLUSTER_NAME}.conf get nodes

   The output from this command resembles the following:

   CODE

   NAME                                       STATUS   ROLES                  AGE   VERSION
   d2iq-e2e-cluster-1-control-plane-7llgd     Ready    control-plane,master   20h   v1.25.4
   d2iq-e2e-cluster-1-control-plane-vncbl     Ready    control-plane,master   20h   v1.25.4
   d2iq-e2e-cluster-1-control-plane-wbgrm     Ready    control-plane,master   19h   v1.25.4
   d2iq-e2e-cluster-1-md-0-74c849dc8c-67rv4   Ready    <none>                 20h   v1.25.4
   d2iq-e2e-cluster-1-md-0-74c849dc8c-n2skc   Ready    <none>                 20h   v1.25.4
   d2iq-e2e-cluster-1-md-0-74c849dc8c-nkftv   Ready    <none>                 20h   v1.25.4
   d2iq-e2e-cluster-1-md-0-74c849dc8c-sqklv   Ready    <none>                 20h   v1.25.4
   

2. Export a variable with the node name to use in the next steps:
   

   This example uses the name d2iq-e2e-cluster-1-md-0-74c849dc8c-67rv4.

   CODE

   export NAME_NODE_TO_DELETE="d2iq-e2e-cluster-1-md-0-74c849dc8c-67rv4"

3. Delete the Machine resource with the command:
   

   CODE

   NAME_MACHINE_TO_DELETE=$(kubectl --kubeconfig ${CLUSTER_NAME}.conf get machine -ojsonpath="{.items[?(@.status.nodeRef.name==\"$NAME_NODE_TO_DELETE\")].metadata.name}")
   kubectl --kubeconfig ${CLUSTER_NAME}.conf delete machine "$NAME_MACHINE_TO_DELETE"

   CODE

   machine.cluster.x-k8s.io "d2iq-e2e-cluster-1-md-0-74c849dc8c-67rv4" deleted

   The command does not return immediately, but it does return after the Machine resource is deleted.

   A few minutes after the Machine resource is deleted, the corresponding Node resource is also deleted.
   

4. Observe the Machine resource replacement using this command:
   

   CODE

   kubectl --kubeconfig ${CLUSTER_NAME}.conf get machinedeployment

   CODE

   NAME                      CLUSTER              REPLICAS   READY   UPDATED   UNAVAILABLE   PHASE       AGE   VERSION
   d2iq-e2e-cluster-1-md-0   d2iq-e2e-cluster-1   4          3       4         1             ScalingUp   20h   v1.25.4

   In this example, there exist 4 replicas, but only 3 are ready. One replica is unavailable, and the ScalingUp phase means a new Machine is being created.
   

5. Identify the replacement Machine using this command:
   

   CODE

   export NAME_NEW_MACHINE=$(kubectl --kubeconfig ${CLUSTER_NAME}.conf get machines \
       -l=cluster.x-k8s.io/deployment-name=${CLUSTER_NAME}-md-0 \
       -ojsonpath='{.items[?(@.status.phase=="Provisioning")].metadata.name}{"\n"}')
   echo "$NAME_NEW_MACHINE"

   If the output is empty, the new Machine has probably exited the Provisioning phase and entered the Running phase.
   

6. Identify the replacement Node using this command:

   CODE

   kubectl --kubeconfig ${CLUSTER_NAME}.conf get nodes \
       -o=jsonpath="{.items[?(@.metadata.annotations.cluster\.x-k8s\.io/machine==\"$NAME_NEW_MACHINE\")].metadata.name}"

   The output should be similar to this example:

   CODE

   d2iq-e2e-cluster-1-md-0-74c849dc8c-rc528

   If the output is empty, the Node resource is not yet available, or does not yet have the expected annotation. Wait a few minutes, then repeat the command.