How to delete an agent from sync group (on portal) when the machine hosting agent has been destroyed?

Question

Our on-premise SQL Data Sync Agent was running on an on-premise VM. We replaced that VM's roles with another fresh installed VM taking on those responsibilities. After checking the fresh VM and ensuring it's connectivity etc was ok, we securely deleted the previous VM.

On the Azure portal page, when we try to delete the non-existant agent, we get this error: "Failed to remove the agent. Please remove all linked databases from the local agent first and try again."

Now since neither the VM hosting the agent not the agent itself exit, how do we remove the non-existant agent from the sync group?

Thanks
Sid

Answer 1

see:

Client agent cannot be deleted from the portal if its associated on-premises database is unreachable

Answer 2

I think you meant to link to this MSDN document, because the link above point back to this thread itself!

Anyway, the document says I should click the 'force delete' button ("Use “force delete” to delete the unreachable database." => "To unregister an on-premises SQL Server database select the database and click Force Delete."). However, there is no UI element/button with the label "Force delete" in the old portal (and SQL Sync Data services isn't ported to the new portal).

Also, I don't wish to delete the sync'd distributed dB - it's important! I just want to delete the old (non-existant) agent

Answer 3

force delete simply removes the member database from the sync group, it doesnt delete the database itself.

does the database show as unreachable in your sync group?

Answer 4

This is how the dead agent / database shows up in the portal (it's "offline")

This is how the error manifests itself

Answer 5

if i remember it right, when you click on an unreachable database, you should see Force Remove below it.

Answer 6

Thanks. It's not that exactly but I figured it out eventually between your comments and me trying different things.

1. Select the offline database
2. Remove database button becomes active in upper right corner of topology panel
3. Then 'deploy button' becomes active in upper left portion of the ribbon

All I can say is ... wow! Such a twisted user experience. Whoever was responsible for designing that flow needs to be ... re-trained!

Answer 7

you follow the same flow when you design your sync group.

finish all changes you want to make, then deploy.