Scaling Down a vSAN (Removing Drives)
How to request a vSAN scale-down (drive removal) through VergeOS Support, including what to prepare before opening a ticket.
Overview
Scaling down a vSAN (removing physical drives to reduce storage capacity) is fundamentally different from scaling up. Adding drives is an additive, low-risk operation. Removing them requires the system to first safely redistribute all data off the target drives, which involves careful coordination to avoid disruption or data loss.
For this reason, vSAN scale-down is handled exclusively by VergeOS Support.
Why Drive Removal Requires Support
When a drive is removed from a vSAN tier, VergeOS must:
Confirm the remaining drives have sufficient free capacity to absorb the data from the drives being removed
Migrate all data off the target drives to maintain redundancy
Monitor repair and redistribution to completion before drives are physically pulled
If any of these steps are rushed or sequenced incorrectly, the vSAN tier can enter a degraded or unrecoverable state. Support engineers coordinate this process and monitor it through to a healthy green status before physical removal occurs.
Before You Contact Support
Gathering the following information in advance will help Support scope the request and schedule the work:
Why you need to scale down — repurposing drives, tier restructuring, etc.
Which tier the drives belong to (Tier 0, Tier 1, Tier 2, etc.)
Number and size of drives to be removed per node
Current tier capacity and usage — available in the VergeOS UI under Infrastructure > vSAN Tiers
Current vSAN tier status — confirm the tier is green/healthy before the call
Preferred maintenance window — drive removal and data redistribution may take hours to complete depending on data volume
Initiating the Request
Open a support ticket and include the information above. For time-sensitive requests, note your preferred maintenance window in the ticket so Support can prioritize scheduling.
What to Expect
Once the request is scheduled, Support will:
Review your current vSAN health and capacity headroom
Walk through the planned removal with you before beginning
Initiate the data redistribution process and monitor repair status
Confirm the tier returns to a healthy green state before any drives are physically removed
Guide you through the physical removal and any post-removal verification steps
Related Documentation
vSAN Scale Up Guide — the inverse operation, which is self-service
vSAN Scale Up SOP — preparation and verification best practices for storage operations
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