If an elastic network interface (ENI) is no longer needed, you can delete it. This topic describes how to delete an ENI. Secondary ENIs can be deleted, whereas primary ENIs cannot.

Prerequisites

  • The ENI that you want to delete is in the Available state.
  • If the ENI that you want to delete was bound to an Elastic Compute Service (ECS) instance, the ENI has been unbound from the instance. For more information, see Unbind an ENI.
    Note When an instance is released, the ENIs bound to the instance are deleted.

Background information

When an ENI is deleted, the following results occur:
  • All private IP addresses of the ENI are automatically released.
  • The ENI is removed from all security groups to which it was added.

Delete an ENI on the Network Interfaces page

  1. Log on to the ECS console.
  2. In the left-side navigation pane, choose Network & Security > ENIs.
  3. In the top navigation bar, select a region.
  4. On the Network Interfaces page, find an ENI that is in the Available state and click Delete in the Actions column.
  5. In the message that appears, click OK.
    On the Network Interfaces page, refresh the ENI list. If the ENI is deleted, it is no longer displayed.

Delete an ENI on the Security Groups page

  1. Log on to the ECS console.
  2. In the left-side navigation pane, choose Network & Security > Security Groups.
  3. In the top navigation bar, select a region.
  4. On the Security Groups page, find the security group to which an ENI belongs and click Manage ENIs in the Actions column.
  5. On the ENIs in Security Group page, find the ENI in the Available state and click Delete in the Actions column.
  6. In the message that appears, click OK.
    On the Network Interfaces page, refresh the ENI list. If the ENI is deleted, it is no longer displayed.