Machine Lifecycle & Removal
Removing a machine
Section titled “Removing a machine”You can remove a machine from your Host dashboard at any time. What happens next depends on whether clients are actively using it.
| Situation | What happens |
|---|---|
| No active client workloads | The machine is removed immediately. |
| Active client pods or storage exist | A 48-hour grace period starts before removal. |
The grace period exists because client pods and persistent volumes live on your hardware. Removing the machine instantly would destroy client data with no warning. The grace period gives clients a fair chance to move their work.
The 48-hour grace period
Section titled “The 48-hour grace period”When you remove a machine that still has active client workloads:
- New workloads stop being scheduled onto the machine right away.
- Existing client pods and volumes keep running so clients can still access their data.
- Affected clients are notified by email immediately, and again about 24 hours before the deadline.
- After 48 hours, the remaining StatefulSets and PersistentVolumes are force-removed.
Local persistent volume data cannot be moved to another host automatically — it is physically tied to your disks. Clients must copy any important data out of their pods before the deadline. The grace period is the window for them to do that.
You can see the affected workspaces on the Clients tab of the machine page, and message them directly.
Force termination — 3-month registration block
Section titled “Force termination — 3-month registration block”The grace period only protects clients if the machine stays online during it.
If you forcibly terminate the machine — powering it off, uninstalling the agent, or cutting its network — and it stays disconnected for the entire 48-hour grace period, your account is blocked from registering new machines for 3 months.
This penalty does not apply if:
- The machine comes back online at least once during the grace period, or
- A hardware fault that you resolve before the deadline caused a temporary disconnect.
The block lifts automatically after 3 months.
Your earnings survive removal
Section titled “Your earnings survive removal”Removing a machine never forfeits money you’ve already earned. Any earnings that haven’t been paid out yet are settled and paid on the normal schedule, even after the machine (or its registration) is gone. This applies to manual removal, grace-period removal, and the automatic offline removal below.
Automatic removal of long-offline machines
Section titled “Automatic removal of long-offline machines”A machine that stops responding indefinitely is removed automatically:
- After your machine has been offline for a long time, you receive warning emails at 30 days, 7 days, and 1 day before removal.
- If it is still offline 90 days after it was last online, it is removed automatically, along with its registration.
Bringing the machine back online at any point resets this — only continuously offline machines are removed. To start hosting again after an automatic removal, simply register a new machine.
Have a question about any of this? Contact admin@meshive.ai or reach us via Discord.