---
title: "Change a cluster type"
description: "Convert a Calico Enterprise cluster between management, managed, and standalone roles by editing ManagementCluster and ManagementClusterConnection resources."
product: "Calico Enterprise"
version: "3.23 (latest)"
section: "Multi-cluster management"
canonical_url: "https://docs.tigera.io/calico-enterprise/latest/multicluster/change-cluster-type"
---

# Change a cluster type

## Big picture

Change the configuration type for an existing Calico Enterprise cluster to management, managed, or standalone.

## Value

As you build out a multi-cluster management deployment, it is critical to have flexibility to repurpose existing cluster types to meet your needs.

## Before you begin…

To verify the type of an existing cluster, run the following command:

```bash
kubectl get managementcluster,managementclusterconnection
```

Your cluster is a management cluster if a `ManagementCluster` is returned, a managed cluster if a `ManagementClusterConnection` is returned. We refer to `Standalone` clusters, as clusters who have neither.

We do not support having both `ManagementCluster` and `ManagementClusterConnection` in one cluster.

## How to

- [Change a standalone cluster to a management cluster](#change-a-standalone-cluster-to-a-management-cluster)
- [Change a standalone cluster to a managed cluster](#change-a-standalone-cluster-to-a-managed-cluster)
- [Change a management cluster to a standalone cluster](#change-a-management-cluster-to-a-standalone-cluster)
- [Change a managed cluster to a standalone cluster](#change-a-managed-cluster-to-a-standalone-cluster)

### Change a standalone cluster to a management cluster

1. Create a service to expose the management cluster. The following example of a NodePort service may not be suitable for production and high availability. For options, see [Fine-tune multi-cluster management for production](https://docs.tigera.io/calico-enterprise/latest/multicluster/fine-tune-deployment.md). Apply the following service manifest.

   ```bash
   kubectl create -f - <<EOF
   apiVersion: v1
   kind: Service
   metadata:
     name: calico-manager-mcm
     namespace: calico-system
   spec:
     ports:
     - nodePort: 30449
       port: 9449
       protocol: TCP
       targetPort: 9449
     selector:
       k8s-app: calico-manager
     type: NodePort
   EOF
   ```

2. Find out the address where you can reach the above service and set it as a variable. (Ex. "example.com:1234" or "10.0.0.10:1234".)

   ```bash
   export MANAGEMENT_CLUSTER_ADDR=<your-management-cluster-addr>
   ```

3. Apply the [ManagementCluster](https://docs.tigera.io/calico-enterprise/latest/reference/installation/api.md) CR.

   ```bash
   kubectl apply -f - <<EOF
   apiVersion: operator.tigera.io/v1
   kind: ManagementCluster
   metadata:
     name: tigera-secure
   spec:
     address: $MANAGEMENT_CLUSTER_ADDR
   EOF
   ```

### Change a standalone cluster to a managed cluster

The steps in this section assume that a management cluster is up and running.

> **SECONDARY:** If you wish to retain LogStorage data for your managed cluster, verify that the reclaim policy within your storage class is configured to [Retain data](https://kubernetes.io/docs/concepts/storage/persistent-volumes/#reclaiming).

1. Choose a name for your managed cluster.

   ```bash
   export MANAGED_CLUSTER=my-managed-cluster
   ```

2. Get the namespace in which the Tigera Operator is running in your managed cluster (in most cases this will be `tigera-operator`):

   ```bash
   export MANAGED_CLUSTER_OPERATOR_NS=tigera-operator
   ```

3. Add the managed cluster to your **management cluster**. The following command will create a manifest with the name of your managed cluster in your current directory.

   ```bash
   kubectl -o jsonpath="{.spec.installationManifest}" > $MANAGED_CLUSTER.yaml create -f - <<EOF
   apiVersion: projectcalico.org/v3
   kind: ManagedCluster
   metadata:
     name: $MANAGED_CLUSTER
   spec:
     operatorNamespace: $MANAGED_CLUSTER_OPERATOR_NS
   EOF
   ```

4. Verify that the `managementClusterAddr` in the manifest is correct. Apply the manifest to your **managed cluster**.

   ```bash
   kubectl apply -f $MANAGED_CLUSTER.yaml
   ```

5. Remove unnecessary resources in the managed clusters.

   ```bash
   kubectl delete manager tigera-secure
   kubectl delete logstorage tigera-secure
   ```

6. Monitor progress until everything has the status, `Available`.

   ```bash
   watch kubectl get tigerastatus
   ```

### Change a management cluster to a standalone cluster

1. Change your installation type to `Standalone`.

   ```bash
   kubectl delete managementcluster tigera-secure
   ```

2. Delete the service that you created to expose the management cluster.

   ```bash
   kubectl delete service <your-service-name> -n calico-system
   ```

3. Delete all managed cluster resources in your cluster.

   ```bash
   kubectl delete managedcluster --all
   ```

   > **SECONDARY:** Although installation automatically cleans up credentials for managed clusters, the management cluster Elasticsearch still retains managed cluster data based on the retention value that you specify in your [LogStorage](https://docs.tigera.io/calico-enterprise/latest/reference/installation/api.md).

### Change a managed cluster to a standalone cluster

1. Ensure a persistent volume is provisioned to store log data for the standalone cluster. See [Configure storage for logs and reports](https://docs.tigera.io/calico-enterprise/latest/operations/logstorage/create-storage.md).

2. Remove the `ManagementClusterConnection` from your cluster and delete the managed cluster connection secret.

   ```bash
   kubectl delete managementclusterconnection tigera-secure
   kubectl delete secret tigera-managed-cluster-connection -n tigera-operator
   ```

   > **SECONDARY:** If the operator in your managed cluster is running in a different namespace, use that namespace in the `kubectl delete secret...` command.

   Follow the following step to also disconnect your managed cluster from your management cluster.

   1. In your management cluster, delete the `ManagedCluster` resource for your managed cluster. Note that deleting the managed cluster does not result in loss of data. Whenever you reconnect your cluster using the same name, existing data is available again.

   ```bash
   kubectl delete managedcluster <managed-cluster-name>
   ```

3. Install the Tigera custom resources. For more information, see [the installation reference](https://docs.tigera.io/calico-enterprise/latest/reference/installation/api.md).

   ```bash
   kubectl apply -f https://downloads.tigera.io/ee/v3.23.2/manifests/custom-resources.yaml
   ```

4. Monitor the progress with the following command:

   ```bash
   watch kubectl get tigerastatus
   ```

   When all components show a status of `Available`, go to the next step.

5. Remove your managed cluster from the **management cluster**.

   ```bash
   kubectl delete managedcluster <your-managed-cluster-name>
   ```