# Deleting an AWS CloudHSM cluster
<a name="delete-cluster"></a>

Before you can delete a cluster, you must remove all HSMs from the cluster. For more information, see [Removing an HSM from an AWS CloudHSM cluster](remove-hsm.md).

After you remove all HSMs, you can delete a cluster by using the [AWS CloudHSM console](https://console.aws.amazon.com/cloudhsm/), the [AWS Command Line Interface (AWS CLI)](https://aws.amazon.com/cli/), or the AWS CloudHSM API.

**To delete a cluster (console)**

1. Open the AWS CloudHSM console at [https://console.aws.amazon.com/cloudhsm/home](https://console.aws.amazon.com/cloudhsm/home).

1. Choose the cluster that you are deleting. Then choose **Delete cluster**.

1. Confirm that you want to delete the cluster, then choose **Delete**.

**To delete a cluster (AWS CLI)**
+ At a command prompt, issue the **[delete-cluster](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cli/latest/reference/cloudhsmv2/delete-cluster.html)** command, passing the ID of the cluster that you are deleting. If you don't know the cluster ID, issue the **[describe-clusters](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cli/latest/reference/cloudhsmv2/describe-clusters.html)** command.

  ```
  $ aws cloudhsmv2 delete-cluster --cluster-id <cluster ID>
  {
      "Cluster": {
          "Certificates": {
              "ClusterCertificate": "<certificate string>"
          },
          "SourceBackupId": "backup-rtq2dwi2gq6",
          "SecurityGroup": "sg-40399d28",
          "CreateTimestamp": 1504903546.035,
          "SubnetMapping": {
              "us-east-2a": "subnet-f1d6e798",
              "us-east-2c": "subnet-0e358c43",
              "us-east-2b": "subnet-40ed9d3b"
          },
          "ClusterId": "cluster-kdmrayrc7gi",
          "VpcId": "vpc-641d3c0d",
          "State": "DELETE_IN_PROGRESS",
          "HsmType": "hsm1.medium",
          "StateMessage": "The cluster is being deleted.",
          "Hsms": [],
          "BackupPolicy": "DEFAULT"
      }
  }
  ```

**To delete a cluster (AWS CloudHSM API)**
+ Send a [https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cloudhsm/latest/APIReference/API_DeleteCluster.html](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cloudhsm/latest/APIReference/API_DeleteCluster.html) request, specifying the ID of the cluster that you are deleting.