To ensure continuous availability and maintain the specified Replication Factor (RF) during maintenance or hardware issues, Nutanix follows a proactive " provision before removal " logic for host replacement in the cloud. The correct operational sequence begins with adding a new host to the cluster first. This step expands the cluster ' s capacity and ensures there is a destination ready for data synchronization. Once the new host is fully integrated into the storage fabric, the system migrates the virtual machines and their associated data away from the degraded or old host. Only after the old host has been completely evacuated and the cluster returns to a healthy, balanced state does the NC2 console conclude the operation by removing the old host from the cluster configuration.