DROP SERVER

Enterprise command reference.

Command Snapshot

Field	Value
Category	Federation (FDW)
Mutates Data	Yes/Depends
Scope	Cluster / Object
Privilege Model	Requires administrative privilege on foreign server, table, and mapping objects.

Purpose

Defines, changes, or removes schema and metadata objects.

Syntax

DROP SERVER [ IF EXISTS ] name [, ...] [ CASCADE | RESTRICT ]

Operational Notes

• Use schema-qualified identifiers in automation and automation pipelines.
• Validate behavior in staging for cluster-impacting or governance-impacting changes.
• Confirm runtime effects through system tables and metrics before and after execution.

When to Use

• Use to register and query external data systems through SQL federation.
• Use when centralized query execution is preferred over external engine orchestration.

When Not to Use

• Avoid expecting full pushdown for complex joins/aggregations unless explicitly supported.

Common Errors and Troubleshooting

Symptom	Likely Cause	Action
Permission denied / unauthorized	Missing privilege on object or cluster scope	Re-run with required grants or elevated admin role.
Analysis/parse error	Syntax variant or object shape mismatch	Compare with canonical syntax and object definition.
Runtime failure under load	Resource limits, breaker pressure, or node state transitions	Check sys.jobs, sys.operations, sys.checks, and retry after mitigation.

Cross-References

• SQL Command Catalog
• SQL Commands Index
• SQL Reference Overview

Detailed Reference

DROP SERVER is a DDL statement used in MonkDB to remove one or more foreign servers. Dropping a server requires AL (Admin Level) permission on the cluster level.

SQL Statement

DROP SERVER [ IF EXISTS ] name [, ...] [ CASCADE | RESTRICT ]

Parameters

• name: The name of the server to drop. Multiple server names can be specified by separating them with commas.

Clauses

IF EXISTS

By default, DROP SERVER raises an error if the specified server does not exist. Using the IF EXISTS clause prevents this error and instead issues a notice if the server does not exist.

CASCADE | RESTRICT

• RESTRICT: This is the default behavior. It causes DROP SERVER to raise an error if any foreign tables or user mappings depend on the server being dropped.
• CASCADE: Drops the server and automatically deletes all dependent foreign tables and user mappings.

Example

To drop a server named my_server if it exists, without raising an error if it does not exist, and also delete any dependent objects:

DROP SERVER IF EXISTS my_server CASCADE;

This command will drop my_server and remove any foreign tables or user mappings that depend on it, provided you have the necessary permissions.

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See Also

• Create Server