Remove a Secondary Replica from an Availability Group (SQL Server)

Applies to: SQL Server

This topic describes how to remove a secondary replica from an Always On availability group by using SQL Server Management Studio, Transact-SQL, or PowerShell in SQL Server.

Limitations and Restrictions

• This task is supported only on the primary replica.
• Only a secondary replica can be removed from an availability group.

Prerequisites

• You must be connected to the server instance that hosts the primary replica of the availability group.

Permissions

Requires ALTER AVAILABILITY GROUP permission on the availability group, CONTROL AVAILABILITY GROUP permission, ALTER ANY AVAILABILITY GROUP permission, or CONTROL SERVER permission.

Using SQL Server Management Studio

To remove a secondary replica

1. In Object Explorer, connect to the server instance that hosts the primary replica, and expand the server tree.

2. Expand the Always On High Availability node and the Availability Groups node.

3. Select the availability group, and expand the Availability Replicas node.

4. This step depends on whether you want to remove multiple replicas or only one replica, as follows:

   • To remove multiple replicas, use the Object Explorer Details pane to view and select all the replicas that you want to remove. For more information, see Use the Object Explorer Details to Monitor Availability Groups (SQL Server Management Studio).

   • To remove a single replica, select it in either the Object Explorer pane or the Object Explorer Details pane.

5. Right-click the selected secondary replica or replicas, and select Remove from Availability Group in the command menu.

6. In the Remove Secondary Replicas from Availability Group dialog box, to remove all the listed secondary replicas, click OK. If you do not want to remove all the listed replicas, click Cancel.

Using Transact-SQL

To remove a secondary replica

1. Connect to the server instance that hosts the primary replica.

2. Use the ALTER AVAILABILITY GROUP statement, as follows:

   ALTER AVAILABILITY GROUP group_name REMOVE REPLICA ON 'instance_name' [,...n]

   where group_name is the name of the availability group and instance_name is the server instance where the secondary replica is located.

   The following example removes a secondary replica from the MyAG availability group. The target secondary replica is located on a server instance named HADR_INSTANCE on a computer named COMPUTER02.

   ALTER AVAILABILITY GROUP MyAG REMOVE REPLICA ON 'COMPUTER02\HADR_INSTANCE';  
   

Using PowerShell

To remove a secondary replica

1. Change directory (cd) to the server instance that hosts the primary replica.

2. Use the Remove-SqlAvailabilityReplica cmdlet.

   For example, the following command removes the availability replica on the server MyReplica from the availability group named MyAg. This command must be run on the server instance that hosts the primary replica of the availability group.

   Remove-SqlAvailabilityReplica `   
   -Path SQLSERVER:\SQL\PrimaryServer\InstanceName\AvailabilityGroups\MyAg\AvailabilityReplicas\MyReplica  
   

   Note

   To view the syntax of a cmdlet, use the Get-Help cmdlet in the SQL Server PowerShell environment. For more information, see Get Help SQL Server PowerShell.

To set up and use the SQL Server PowerShell provider

• SQL Server PowerShell Provider

Follow Up: After Removing a Secondary Replica

If you specify a replica that is currently unavailable, when the replica comes online, it will discover that it has been removed.

Removing a replica causes it to stop receiving data. After a secondary replica confirms that it has been removed from the global store, the replica removes the availability group settings from its databases, which remain on the local server instance in the RECOVERING state.

See Also

Overview of Always On Availability Groups (SQL Server)
Add a Secondary Replica to an Availability Group (SQL Server)
Remove an Availability Group (SQL Server)