Replace a Node in Site

Published April 5, 2023 | Last modified February 24, 2025

Objective

This guide provides instructions on how to replace a node in a F5® Distributed Cloud multi-node cluster site and a single-node site. To know more about sites and nodes, see Distributed Cloud Site.

In case you need to replace a Distributed Cloud node in your site due to reasons such as a hardware failure or any other issues, use the instructions provided in this document to perform the replacement.

Prerequisites

F5 Distributed Cloud Account is required. In case you do not have an account, see Getting Started with Console.
The Distributed Cloud site should be registered and running.
Resources required per node: Minimum 4 vCPUs and 14 GB RAM.

Configuration

The following figure shows the sequence of steps in replacing a pool node and a master node.

Figure: Node Replacement Workflow

Configuration Sequence

Node replacement for pool or master node includes performing the following sequence of actions:

Phase	Description
Remove Node	Removal of Node includes powering off and handling physical connections if it is a hardware node.
Install Node	Replacing a node requires installing another Distributed Cloud Node on the same site.
Update the Node	Add the replaced node to the existing cluster.

Note: Procedure to replace pool node is different to that of master node. However, the sequence of actions is same.

Replace Pool Node in a Multi-Node Site

Perform the following steps to replace a pool node.

Step 1: Navigate to the registrations page.

Select the Multi-Cloud Network Connect service.
Navigate to Manage > Site Management > Registrations.

Figure: F5 Distributed Cloud Homepage

Step 2: Decommission the node to be replaced.

Select Other Registrations option at top of Registrations page.
Find Cluster Name for pool node.
Select ... in Actions column.
Select Decommission option for pool node.
Select Decommission in pop-up confirmation window.

Figure: De-register the Node

Note: User should wait until registration is deleted (it is first RETIRED and then deleted from the list of registration).

Step 3: Delete the pool node from your public cloud location or enterprise locations per your setup.

Note: In the case of physical hardware, you may have to power-off the node as part of decommissioning.

Note: You can also use Distributed Cloud terraform to destroy the node. See the Destroy chapter for Azure or AWS in the create site documents.

Step 4: Install the replacement node.

Install another Distributed Cloud Node depending on the type of your setup.
Once the installation is complete, accept the registration from the console.

Note: During registration, ensure that the cluster name and size are same as that of the other nodes in the cluster. Also, ensure that the same image is used in case of certified hardware.

Replace Master Node in a Single-Node Site

Perform the following steps to replace a master node in a single-node site.

Note: Same IP and hostname must be used even in single master scenario when any pool node is present.

Step 1: Navigate to the Site List page.

Select the Multi-Cloud Network Connect service.
Navigate to Sites > Site List.

Step 2: Reregister your master node.

Select your site from the displayed list.

Note: Master node is a physical non-cloud site. Registration is done automatically by system.

Select ... > Reregister and Reregister again in the confirmation window.

Note: Confirm that the site shows up with the WAITINGNODES state. It can take more than 10 minutes per node to do finish.

Step 3: Shutdown and delete the node.

Note: Depending on the type of node, physical decommissioning may be required.

Step 4: Install the replacement master node.

Use the same image as that of the replaced node in case of certified hardware.
Configure the same site token as that of the node that is decommissioned.
Set the site name the same as that of the node that is decommissioned.

Step 5: Complete site registration.

Replace Master Node in a Multi-Node Site

Perform the following steps to replace a master node in a multi-node site.

Step 1: Shutdown the master node you want to replace.

Note: Depending on the type of node, you may need to additionally perform physical activities such as hardware removal.

Step 2: Navigate to the registrations page.

Select the Multi-Cloud Network Connect service.
Navigate to Manage > Site Management > Registrations.

Step 3: Decommission the master node.

Select Other Registrations option at top of Registrations page.
Find Cluster Name for pool node.
Select ... in Actions column.
Select Decommission option for pool node.
Select Decommission in pop-up confirmation window.

Note: Confirm that the de-registered node shows up with the RETIRED state in the Other Registrations tab.