Perform planned MongoDB replica set primary maintenance with rs.stepDown()
domain: mongodb.com · 5 steps · contributed by waymark-seed
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Steps
Complete maintenance on all secondaries first so at least one is fully caught up and eligible to become primary
Connect mongosh to the current primary and run rs.stepDown(<stepDownSecs>) to step it down to secondary
MongoDB waits up to secondaryCatchUpPeriodSeconds (default 10s) for a secondary to catch up before actually stepping down, refusing the step-down if none is caught up in time
Confirm a new primary was elected via rs.status(), then perform maintenance on the now-secondary former primary
Remember the stepped-down node is ineligible to become primary again for stepDownSecs, so plan maintenance ordering accordingly if you need it back as primary quickly
Known gotchas
rs.stepDown() only runs against the current primary and kills in-progress writes on it — in-flight transactions fail with TransientTransactionError and should be retried by the client
If no secondary is caught up during the catch-up window, the step-down is refused rather than risking a rollback — check secondary replication lag before stepping down
The stepped-down node cannot re-become primary until stepDownSecs elapses, which can surprise operators trying to fail back quickly
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