---
name: vmwaresolutions-vc_deletingclusters
title: Deleting clusters from VCF for Classic - Automated instances
description: As of 17 July 2025, new automated installations of Red Hat® OpenShift® for VMware® are no longer available for new or existing deployments of VMware Cloud Foundation for Classic - Automated instances. You can still use or delete your existing Red Hat OpenShift for VMware automated installations until 16 July 2026. The service will no longer be available from 17 July 2026.
last-updated: 2025-10-24
---

> ## Documentation Index
> The table of contents for this documentation set is at https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/vmwaresolutions?format=markdown
> The index for all IBM Cloud docs is at: https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/llms.txt
> Use these files to discover more information as needed.

# Deleting clusters from VCF for Classic - Automated instances
{: #vc_deletingclusters}

As of 17 July 2025, new automated installations of Red Hat® OpenShift® for VMware® are no longer available for new or existing deployments of VMware Cloud Foundation for Classic - Automated instances. You can still use or delete your existing Red Hat OpenShift for VMware automated installations until 16 July 2026. The service will no longer be available from 17 July 2026.
{: deprecated}

You can delete clusters from VMware Cloud Foundation for Classic - Automated instances when you do not need them.

## Before you delete clusters from Automated instances
{: #vc_deletingclusters-before}

CONTENT:

You can also specify an instance name that meets the following requirements:
* Only lowercase alphabetic, numeric, and hyphen (-) characters are allowed.
* No consecutive hyphens are allowed.
* The instance name must start with a lowercase alphabetic character.
* The instance name must end with a lowercase alphabetic or numeric character.
* The maximum length of the instance name is 10 characters.
* The instance name must be unique within your account.

* You can delete any cluster except for the first cluster (the one that is created during initial deployment).
* You can delete multiple clusters at a time. You can also delete a cluster while another cluster is being created or deleted.
* Ensure that all nodes in a cluster are powered on and operational before you delete the cluster.
* When you delete a cluster, all VMs from the cluster are also deleted and they can't be recovered. If you want to keep the VMs, migrate them to other clusters.
* When you delete a cluster, all storage and subnets that are associated with the cluster are deleted as well. To view the storage and subnets that are associated with a cluster, see the cluster details page.
* You do not have to delete any services that are installed on the cluster, including services on a gateway cluster. The services are automatically deleted when you delete the cluster.

## Procedure to delete clusters from Automated instances
{: #vc_deletingclusters-procedure}
{: help}
{: support}

1. In the VMware Solutions console, click **Licensing and metering > Add-on services** from the left navigation panel.
2. In the **VMware Cloud Foundation for Classic** table, click the instance that you want to delete clusters from.

   Ensure that the instance status is **Available**. Otherwise, you can't delete clusters from the instance.
   {: important}

3. Click the **Infrastructure** tab. In the **Clusters** table, locate the cluster that you want to delete and click the **Delete** icon ![Delete icon](../../icons/delete.svg "Delete") next to the **Status** column.
4. In the **Delete cluster** window, confirm that you completed the migration of VMs to other clusters, if needed, and that you want to delete the cluster. Click **Delete**.

## Related links
{: #vc_deletingclusters-related}

* [Viewing Automated instances](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/vmwaresolutions?topic=vmwaresolutions-vc_viewinginstances&format=markdown)
* [Expanding and contracting capacity for Automated instances](https://cloud.ibm.com/docs/vmwaresolutions?topic=vmwaresolutions-vc_addingservers&format=markdown)