From 6331e9336503356edc125d759f74897f77572c2a Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: NataliaIvakina <82437520+NataliaIvakina@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Wed, 18 Jun 2025 11:41:29 +0200
Subject: [PATCH] Clarify how to recreate a db using the empty list of seeding
 servers (#2425)

Co-authored-by: Anna Sjerling <102957391+AnnaSjerling@users.noreply.github.com>
(cherry picked from commit 8770aa0f774971d7aba3b93fe1140ef1d1747e09)
---
 .../standard-databases/recreate-database.adoc | 19 +++++++++++++++----
 1 file changed, 15 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-)

diff --git a/modules/ROOT/pages/database-administration/standard-databases/recreate-database.adoc b/modules/ROOT/pages/database-administration/standard-databases/recreate-database.adoc
index 6c42da4dc..d2f79da1c 100644
--- a/modules/ROOT/pages/database-administration/standard-databases/recreate-database.adoc
+++ b/modules/ROOT/pages/database-administration/standard-databases/recreate-database.adoc
@@ -140,19 +140,30 @@ CALL dbms.recreateDatabase("neo4j", {seedingServers: ["serverId1", "serverId2",
 [[undefined-servers]]
 Undefined servers::
 
-If you provide an empty list of seeding servers and do not specify a `seedURI`, Neo4j automatically selects all available allocations of the database as seeders.
-The store will be replaced by the most up-to-date seeder available in the cluster.
+If you provide an empty list of seeding servers and do not specify a `seedURI`, Neo4j will select all allocations of the database (primaries and secondaries) on currently enabled and non-cordoned servers to act as seeders.
++
+Before running the procedure, ensure that all unavailable servers are xref:clustering/servers.adoc#_cordoned_state[cordoned]; otherwise, the procedure will fail.
++
+To determine where the database is allocated, use the `SHOW DATABASES` command.
+To identify all enabled and available servers hosting the required database, run the `SHOW SERVERS` command.
+Servers have to show `health = Available` and `status = Enabled`.
+Cordon all unreachable servers by running the `dbms.cluster.cordonServer()` procedure.
++
+Then Neo4j will select the most up-to-date seeder available in the cluster to recreate the database.
 +
 [source, shell]
 ----
 CALL dbms.recreateDatabase("neo4j", {seedingServers: []});
 ----
 
+
 [[undefined-servers-backup]]
 Undefined servers with fallback backup::
 
-If both an empty list of seeding servers and a `seedURI` are provided, Neo4j finds all available allocations of the database and use those as seeders.
-However, if no available servers can be found, the database is recreated based on the backup or the dump defined by the URI.
+If both an empty list of seeding servers and a `seedURI` are provided, Neo4j finds all allocations of the database and use those as seeders.
+Unavailable servers must be cordoned.
++
+However, if no available servers can be found, the database is recreated based on the backup or the dump specified by the URI.
 This means the store is replaced by the most up-to-date seeder if available; otherwise, the backup is used.
 +
 [source, shell]