Troubleshooting node actions and lifecycle

An option on the create form, or an action in a node’s Actions menu, can be greyed out, missing, or fail once you confirm it. The usual causes are a locked node or a power state that action does not support. Start by checking the node’s current state: most blocked actions trace back to one of those.

What each node action needs

Action	Needs	Also blocked by
Start	Powered off, or Stopped (E1-series only)	A current operation still finishing
Power off	Running	Lock, recovery mode
Stop	E1-series only, in a valid state	Any other series (not offered at all)
Reboot	Running	Lock, recovery mode
Reinstall	A supported node type	Accidental Protection on, lock
Delete	Finished creating, not already deleting	Accidental Protection, lock, flagged for abuse
Upgrade or Update node plan	Powered off	An existing snapshot, scaler-node role, under 500 MB free disk space
Attach VPC	A valid node state	Lock, already at 3 private network connections in total
Activate CDP Backup	Backup available in the node’s location	The security group not allowing inbound TCP port 1167
Move To Another Project	Not E1 or E1WC	Lock, a transitional state, a VPC attached, more than one security group, or file storage attached
Save Image	A supported node type	An MS-SQL license installed on the node
Increase root storage	E1 or E1WC	Lock, recovery mode, a snapshot of the root disk, a plan upgrade in progress, under 500 MB free
Delete a snapshot	The snapshot is not locked

The table is a quick guide. The sections after it take one action each, with what to do when it stays greyed out.

An option is greyed out while creating a node

Some choices on the Add New Node form depend on the rest of your request, such as how many nodes you are creating, and turn grey until they fit. A message at launch works the same way. Find what you see in the first column:

What you see	Why	What to do
Enable Reserve IPv4 is greyed out	A reserved IP can be attached only when you create a single node, and it cannot be combined with the VPC section’s option to assign a static public IPv4.	Create this node on its own, or create them all and attach reserved IPs afterward; see Attach a reserved IP. If you ticked the VPC public IPv4 option, untick it to use a reserved IP instead.
An address in the reserved IP list is greyed out	It reads (This IP is already attached) because it is in use elsewhere, or (This IP is a Floating IP), which cannot be attached this way.	Pick another address, or click Create New beside the list to reserve one now.
Choose a volume is greyed out	A volume can be attached only when you create a single node.	Create this node on its own, or attach volumes after the nodes are created.
A volume in the list shows a spinner and cannot be picked	The volume is still being created.	Wait until it is ready, then pick it, or attach it after the node is created.
A VPC in the list is greyed out and reads Creating	The VPC is still being created.	Wait. The list checks again every 5 seconds, and the VPC can be picked once it reads Active.
A subnet in the list is greyed out	Every IP address in that subnet is in use; the count beside it, such as (16/16), shows used against total.	Pick another subnet, or click Create New beside the list to add one. The subnet is optional, so you can also leave it empty.
No subnet list appears after you pick a VPC	A VPC with a /28 CIDR cannot be split into subnets, and a Default VPC, one with an E2E provided range, has no subnets.	Nothing is wrong. The subnet is optional, and the node joins the VPC without one.
A VPC you expect is not in the list	The VPC is in the other region. A VPC can be attached only to a node in the same region. The region you are working in shows in the MyAccount header as Delhi-NCR or Chennai.	Pick the VPC’s region from that header menu and open Add New Node again, or click Create New to make a VPC in this region.
A low-balance message appears when you click Launch	Your account does not have enough credit for the node.	Add credit to your account, then click Launch again.
A message asks you to contact E2E for more quota	An account can have up to 10 running resources, or 30 for an organization account, and this launch would go over.	Delete a resource you no longer need, or contact E2E to raise the limit. Creating fewer nodes at once can also bring the launch under it.

Two more cases are covered where they happen. Enable Backup needs the security group to allow TCP port 1167, and stays greyed out in a region where backup is not offered yet; see Enable backups on a node. A plan that is temporarily unavailable shows Request instead of Launch; see Create a node.

Stopped node only allows Start

Stop exists only for E1-series nodes, so this state is specific to that family. Once an E1-series node is Stopped, Start is the only action it offers.

Click Start to bring the node back to Running, where the rest of the Actions menu opens up again. If you meant to power off a node from another series, use Power Off instead. Stop is not offered there, and trying it shows Not allowed to stop node. See Stop a node for how the two differ.

Delete Node is greyed out

Delete Node is greyed out while the node is locked or in recovery mode. It is also greyed out while another change is running, such as creating, powering on or off, reinstalling, upgrading, or saving an image. A node that is already powered off or stopped can be deleted.

Wait for the change to finish, remove the lock, or turn off recovery mode, and Delete Node comes back.

With accidental protection on, Delete Node opens and reads This action cannot be performed while the accidental protection mode is enabled. Turn it off from the Actions menu, then delete the node.

If you see Invalid node state to perform ‘Delete’ action. after you confirm, the node is between states, for example while a volume is being attached. Try again in a moment. A node flagged for abuse cannot be deleted until support clears the flag.

Actions menu is greyed out but the node is not Stopped

Every action checks first whether the node is locked or in recovery mode. Either of those greys out most of the Actions menu.

If the node is locked, remove the lock first, as described in Lock a node. SSH, VNC, and published services keep working while the node is locked.

If it is still greyed out, contact support with the node’s name, IP address, and your customer reference number (CRN). Being flagged for abuse or the node’s underlying hardware can each block a different set of actions.

Upgrade Node Plan (or Update Node Plan) is greyed out

The plan-change item (Upgrade Node Plan on most series, Update Node Plan on E1-series) needs the node Powered off first, and is not offered for a node running Windows. If the node has a snapshot, delete it first; the plan change is offered once the node has none. It is also unavailable for a scaler node, and needs at least 500 MB of free disk space on the node. A scaler node is one that a scale group grows or shrinks with demand.

Power the node off, remove any snapshot, free up disk space, or wait until the node’s scaler role clears, and the option reopens. See Upgrade a node’s plan for the full flow.

Move To Another Project is greyed out

Move To Another Project is blocked while the node is locked or still being created or upgraded. Remove a lock with Unlock Node in the node’s Actions menu, or wait for Creating or Upgrading to finish. A Terminating or Failed node cannot move. It is also blocked while the node has a VPC attached, more than one security group, or file storage (SFS) associated with it: detach the VPC and file storage, and get down to one security group, before you retry. To end a node’s access to an SFS, see Configure per-node access to an SFS. A reserved IP, backup, volume, or saved image attached to the node moves with it, so you do not need to detach those. For every step of the move, see Move a node to another project. To move a node through the API instead of the portal, see the transfer-node-to-project operation in the API reference.

Move To Another Project is missing

The Actions menu of a node, or of another resource you want to move, has no Move To Another Project. Check these causes in order:

• Your role. Only the account owner, an Admin, or a Project Lead in the resource’s project sees the item. With any other role, ask the account owner to move the resource or to change your role; see Choose a role for a user and Who can move a node to another project?
• The kind of node. The Nodes list does not offer the item for an E1 or E1WC node.
• The kind of resource. Only nodes, saved images, volumes, reserved IPs, DBaaS instances, and parameter groups can move, and everything else stays in its project. See Can I move a node to another project?

No other projects are available.

Your account has only one project, so there is nowhere to move the node or any other resource. Create a second project, then choose Move To Another Project again. See Create a project.

Transfer is not available

Transfer stays unavailable until you choose a project in Select Project and turn on the checkbox. The checkbox names the resource and the project you chose. The project the resource is in now is listed, but you cannot choose it.

Please remove tag from the resource before transferring.

The resource you are moving carries a tag. Remove every tag from it and try the move again. See Tag a resource.

A node move asks you to remove a tag from a related resource

One of the resources that move with the node has a tag. MyAccount names that resource in one of these messages:

• Please remove the tag from attached reserve Ip.
• Please remove the tag from attached Volume.
• Please remove the tag from Saved Image of Node.
• Tag is attached to the node backup. Please remove the tag from backup to allow transfer.

Remove the tags from that reserved IP, volume, saved image, or CDP backup, then move the node again. See Tag a resource.

Resource is attached with vpc. Please detach it before transferring.

The node has a VPC attached, so detach the VPC before you start the move again. See Attach a node to a VPC. A DBaaS instance shows the same message; see Troubleshooting DBaaS.

Detach additional security groups before transferring.

A node can move only when it has one security group. Detach all but one of the node’s security groups before you move it. After the move, the node gets the target project’s default security group. See Detach a security group from a node.

Node is currently in use as backend server of load balancer.

The node is a backend server of a load balancer in the same project. Remove the node from the load balancer’s backend servers, then move it again. See Manage backend groups and servers.

Node is in locked state, so it cannot be transfer.

The node is locked. In its Actions menu, click Unlock Node, then move the node again. See Lock a node.

Node is in powering off state. So cannot be transfer.

A node cannot move while an action is still in progress on it. The same message can name other states: powering on, saving an image, reinstalling, or undeploying. Wait until the action finishes before you try again.

A suspended node cannot move either. To find out why it is suspended, raise a support ticket with the node’s name.

Auto-scaling is enabled for the saved image of this node, So the node cannot be transfer.

A scale group uses a saved image taken from the node. MyAccount shows this only after you click Transfer. Delete the scale group, then move the node again. See Delete a scale group.

The node is missing after the move

Each list in MyAccount shows only the project you are in. After a successful move, the Nodes list reloads without the node, because the node is now in the target project. To see and manage it, switch to that project from the header. See Create a project.

Error while transferring this resource.

The move was refused without a reason, and the resource has not moved. Try the move again.

Resource transfer failed.

The move started but could not finish. The message is either Resource transfer failed. or one that names the kind of resource and the cause. For a node, the message begins Error in trasferring Node; for a volume, Error in transferring Volume:. Check which project the resource is in now, then try the move again.

If a move keeps failing, or none of this helps, raise a support ticket with the resource’s name, its project and region, the exact message, and when you tried the move.

Action fails right after confirming it, even though it was not greyed out

The Actions menu reflects the node’s state when the page loaded. If something changed since then (another session locking the node, for example), the action can still fail once you confirm it. Reload the page and check the menu again.

If you tried an action right after a previous one finished, you will instead see a message asking you to retry in a few seconds. Wait a moment and try again.

A bulk action skips some of the nodes I selected

The Bulk Actions confirmation lists every selected node the action will not run on, with the reason next to each: its status, a lock, or recovery mode. Clear that reason on the node, such as unlocking it or starting it, then run the action again, or run it on that node from its own Actions menu. See Run an action on several nodes at once.

Reinstall blocks every other action

Reinstall Node blocks every other action on that node until it finishes. Wait for the reinstall to complete: it replaces the node’s operating system, so this is expected, not a stall. See Reinstall a node for what it changes.

Snapshot in progress blocks other actions

Reinstall, reboot, and lock are unavailable until the snapshot finishes. Let it finish, then try again. See Create a snapshot.

When an action still will not run, contact support with the node’s name, IP address, and CRN, the action you tried, its exact error text, and when it happened.