How to Destroy PostgreSQL Database Clusters

Validated on 8 Aug 2019 • Last edited on 7 Jun 2023

PostgreSQL is an open source, object-relational database built for extensibility, data integrity, and speed. Its concurrency support makes it fully ACID-compliant, and it supports dynamic loading and catalog-driven operations to let users customize its data types, functions, and more.

Deleting a database cluster permanently and irreversibly destroys the cluster, its contents, and its automated backups.

Destroy a Database Cluster Using the CLI or API

How to Create a Database Using the DigitalOcean CLI

  1. Install doctl, the DigitalOcean command-line tool.

  2. Create a personal access token and save it for use with doctl.

  3. Use the token to grant doctl access to your DigitalOcean account.

              doctl auth init

  4. Finally, run doctl databases delete. Basic usage looks like this, but you can read the usage docs for more details:

                doctl databases delete <database-cluster-id> [flags]

    The following example deletes the database cluster with the ID f81d4fae-7dec-11d0-a765-00a0c91e6bf6:

                  doctl databases delete f81d4fae-7dec-11d0-a765-00a0c91e6bf6
How to Destroy a Database Cluster Using the DigitalOcean API

  1. Create a personal access token and save it for use with the API.

  2. Send a DELETE request to https://api.digitalocean.com/v2/databases/{database_cluster_uuid}

    cURL

    Using cURL:

                    curl -X DELETE \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer $DIGITALOCEAN_TOKEN" \
"https://api.digitalocean.com/v2/databases/9cc10173-e9ea-4176-9dbc-a4cee4c4ff30"

    Go

    Using Godo, the official DigitalOcean V2 API client for Go: 

                    import (
    "context"
    "github.com/digitalocean/godo"
)

func main() {
    pat := "mytoken"

    client := godo.NewFromToken(pat)
    ctx := context.TODO()

    _, err := client.Databases.Delete(ctx, "9cc10173-e9ea-4176-9dbc-a4cee4c4ff30")
}

    Python

                    import os
from pydo import Client

client = Client(token=os.environ.get("DIGITALOCEAN_TOKEN"))

delete_resp = client.databases.destroy_cluster(database_cluster_uuid="a7abba8")

Destroy a Database Cluster Using the Control Panel

To destroy a database cluster from the control panel, open the cluster’s More menu. Click Destroy to go to the cluster’s Settings page.

Screenshot of cluster settings page

In the Destroy this database cluster section at the bottom of the page, click the Destroy button. This opens a Destroy database cluster confirmation window.

Screenshot of the destroy cluster warning

To permanently destroy the cluster, type or copy and paste the name of the database cluster into the text field, then click Destroy.

Warning
Destroying a database cluster destroys the backups of that database. Make sure you download any important data before you destroy a cluster.
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