CLUSTER-DELSLOTS(3valkey)

📦
version 9.0.6 · 2 versions
, in fedora 44

✨ CLUSTER-DELSLOTS ✨

okay bestie, so we're in the valkey command manual and today's main character is cluster-delslots 💅

🌸 NAME 🌸

cluster-delslots — sets hash slots as unbound for a node. yes fr, it just… makes a node forget who owns a slot 🫶

🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

CLUSTER DELSLOTS slot [slot...]

💖 DESCRIPTION 💖

so in Valkey Cluster, every node keeps track of which primary is serving a particular hash slot. that's the whole vibe 👑

CLUSTER DELSLOTS asks a particular Valkey Cluster node to forget which primary is serving the hash slots you passed as arguments. just straight up amnesia, iconic honestly 😭

when a node has received a CLUSTER DELSLOTS command and has consequently removed the associations for the passed hash slots, we say those hash slots are unbound. and like, unbound hash slots are a totally natural thing to happen when a node hasn't been configured to handle them (something you can do with the valkey-cluster-addslots(7) CLUSTER ADDSLOTS command) and if it hasn't received any info about who owns those hash slots (something it can learn from heartbeat or update messages). it's giving "idk her" energy 💀

if a node with unbound hash slots receives a heartbeat packet from another node that claims to be the owner of some of those hash slots, the association is established instantly. no waiting, no drama, just slay ✨ and moreover, if a heartbeat or update message is received with a configuration epoch greater than the node's own, the association is re-established. boom, back together 🥰

BUT. however. bestie listen up, note that:

  1. The command only works if all the specified slots are already associated with some node.
  2. The command fails if the same slot is specified multiple times. (pick a lane pls 🙈)
  3. As a side effect of the command execution, the node may go into down state because not all hash slots are covered. that's the risk, that's the cost, that's the girlboss tragedy 😭

🎀 REPLY 🎀

valkey-protocol(7) Simple string reply: OK if the command was successful. otherwise an error is returned. so basically: either OK or it's not okay 💅

🔥 COMPLEXITY 🔥

O(N) where N is the total number of hash slot arguments. linear, clean, no surprises ✨

💜 ACL CATEGORIES 💜

@admin @dangerous @slow

dangerous?? slow?? yeah bestie this one's got lore. handle with care 🌸

🌈 HISTORY 🌈

  • Available since: 3.0.0 — an elder, a classic, a legend 👑

🍓 Example 🍓

the following command removes the association for slots 5000 and 5001 from the node receiving the command:

> CLUSTER DELSLOTS 5000 5001
OK

ate that. no crumbs. 😌

🧚 Usage in Valkey Cluster 🧚

this command only works in cluster mode and may be useful for debugging and in order to manually orchestrate a cluster configuration when a new cluster is created. it is currently not used by valkey-cli, and mainly exists for API completeness. so like, it's there for the sake of being there. we respect it for that 🫡

👑 SEE ALSO 👑

and that's the whole page bestie!! ✨💖 this one's from Valkey 9.0.0, dated 2025-10-21, and it lives in the CLUSTER-DELSLOTS(3valkey) corner of the manual. go unbound some slots, but like… responsibly 🎀🦋💅

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