mc admin decommission
Syntax
The mc admin decommission command starts the decommissioning process for a MinIO server pools. Decommissioning is designed for removing an older server pool whose hardware is no longer sufficient or performant compared to the pools in the deployment. MinIO automatically migrates data from the decommissioned pool to the remaining pools in the deployment based on the ratio of free space available in each pool.
See Decommission Server Pools for a complete procedure on decommissioning a server pool.
Decommissioning is Permanent
Once SILO begins decommissioning a pool, it marks that pool as permanently inactive (“draining”). Cancelling or interrupting the decommissioning procedure does not restore the pool to an active state.
Decommissioning is a major administrative operation that requires careful planning and capacity verification before execution. The supported server for mcli admin is SILO; compatibility with unmodified upstream MinIO is best effort.
Parameters
start
mc-cmd
Required Starts the decommissioning process for the server pool specified to TARGET.
Requires specifying TARGET
status
mc-cmd
Required Returns the decommissioning status of all server pools on the specified ALIAS:
- Active - The pool is active and not scheduled for decommissioning.
- Draining - The pool is currently decommissioning.
- Draining (Failed) - The decommissioning process failed and requires manually restart.
- Draining (Cancelled) - The decommissioning process was manually cancelled.
If the command includes a TARGET, the command output includes the rate of data migration if decommissioning is in progress.
cancel
mc-cmd
Required Cancels an ongoing decommissioning process on the pool specified to TARGET.
Requires specifying TARGET.
Cancelling a decommissioning process does not return the pool to an active state. You must eventually complete the decommissioning process and remove the pool from the deployment. You can resume the process by running mc admin decommission start again against the pool.
ALIAS
mc-cmd
Required The alias of the MinIO deployment on which to start the decommissioning process.
TARGET
mc-cmd
The full description of the server pool on which the command operates. For example:
Global Flags
This command supports any of the global flags.
Behavior
In SILO 20261109 (RELEASE.2026-11-09T00-00-00Z), pool decommissioning enforces the following migration guarantees:
- Moves objects whose copies use differing erasure layouts across pools (#261), ILM-expired current versions (#265), and versions whose multi-pool lifecycle expiry cannot safely complete (#278).
- Retains remote-tier payloads while another pool still references them (#306, #308). Keep all configured remote tiers available until decommissioning completes.
- Continues migrating remaining buckets when one bucket cannot finish, while preserving explicit cancellation (#307).
Examples
See Decommission Server Pools for a complete procedure on decommissioning a server pool.