diff --git a/vclusterops/add_node.go b/vclusterops/add_node.go
index 75b5e06..e4d383b 100644
--- a/vclusterops/add_node.go
+++ b/vclusterops/add_node.go
@@ -207,7 +207,7 @@ func (vcc *VClusterCommands) VAddNode(options *VAddNodeOptions) (VCoordinationDa
 // to add already exists in db.
 func checkAddNodeRequirements(vdb *VCoordinationDatabase, hostsToAdd []string) error {
 	// we don't want any of the new host to be part of the db.
-	if nodes := vdb.containNodes(hostsToAdd); len(nodes) != 0 {
+	if nodes, _ := vdb.containNodes(hostsToAdd); len(nodes) != 0 {
 		return fmt.Errorf("%s already exist in the database", strings.Join(nodes, ","))
 	}
 
diff --git a/vclusterops/coordinator_database.go b/vclusterops/coordinator_database.go
index 0e0acaf..3eaded9 100644
--- a/vclusterops/coordinator_database.go
+++ b/vclusterops/coordinator_database.go
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ import (
 	"path/filepath"
 	"strings"
 
+	mapset "github.com/deckarep/golang-set/v2"
 	"github.com/vertica/vcluster/vclusterops/util"
 	"github.com/vertica/vcluster/vclusterops/vlog"
 	"golang.org/x/exp/maps"
@@ -264,21 +265,22 @@ func (vdb *VCoordinationDatabase) getSCNames() []string {
 	return scNames
 }
 
-// containNodes returns the number of input nodes contained in the vdb.
-func (vdb *VCoordinationDatabase) containNodes(nodes []string) []string {
-	hostSet := make(map[string]struct{})
-	for _, n := range nodes {
-		hostSet[n] = struct{}{}
-	}
-	dupHosts := []string{}
+// containNodes determines which nodes are in the vdb and which ones are not.
+// The node is determined by looking up the host address.
+func (vdb *VCoordinationDatabase) containNodes(nodes []string) (nodesInDB, nodesNotInDB []string) {
+	hostSet := mapset.NewSet(nodes...)
+	nodesInDB = []string{}
 	for _, vnode := range vdb.HostNodeMap {
 		address := vnode.Address
-		if _, exist := hostSet[address]; exist {
-			dupHosts = append(dupHosts, address)
+		if exist := hostSet.Contains(address); exist {
+			nodesInDB = append(nodesInDB, address)
 		}
 	}
 
-	return dupHosts
+	if len(nodesInDB) == len(nodes) {
+		return nodesInDB, nil
+	}
+	return nodesInDB, util.SliceDiff(nodes, nodesInDB)
 }
 
 // hasAtLeastOneDownNode returns true if the current VCoordinationDatabase instance
diff --git a/vclusterops/https_drop_node_op.go b/vclusterops/https_drop_node_op.go
index ea733af..59c9f6d 100644
--- a/vclusterops/https_drop_node_op.go
+++ b/vclusterops/https_drop_node_op.go
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ package vclusterops
 
 import (
 	"errors"
+	"strconv"
 
 	"github.com/vertica/vcluster/vclusterops/util"
 	"github.com/vertica/vcluster/vclusterops/vlog"
@@ -29,12 +30,14 @@ type httpsDropNodeOp struct {
 	RequestParams map[string]string
 }
 
+// makeHTTPSDropNodeOp is a constructor for httpsDropNodeOp. The cascade option
+// should be true if an EON deployment and the node we are dropping is down.
 func makeHTTPSDropNodeOp(logger vlog.Printer, vnode string,
 	initiatorHost []string,
 	useHTTPPassword bool,
 	userName string,
 	httpsPassword *string,
-	isEon bool) (httpsDropNodeOp, error) {
+	cascade bool) (httpsDropNodeOp, error) {
 	op := httpsDropNodeOp{}
 	op.name = "HTTPSDropNodeOp"
 	op.logger = logger.WithName(op.name)
@@ -48,11 +51,7 @@ func makeHTTPSDropNodeOp(logger vlog.Printer, vnode string,
 	op.userName = userName
 	op.httpsPassword = httpsPassword
 	op.RequestParams = make(map[string]string)
-	if isEon {
-		op.RequestParams["cascade"] = "true"
-		return op, nil
-	}
-	op.RequestParams["cascade"] = "false"
+	op.RequestParams["cascade"] = strconv.FormatBool(cascade)
 	return op, nil
 }
 
diff --git a/vclusterops/remove_node.go b/vclusterops/remove_node.go
index a4d6b68..e7ae13a 100644
--- a/vclusterops/remove_node.go
+++ b/vclusterops/remove_node.go
@@ -18,7 +18,6 @@ package vclusterops
 import (
 	"errors"
 	"fmt"
-	"strings"
 
 	"github.com/vertica/vcluster/vclusterops/util"
 	"github.com/vertica/vcluster/vclusterops/vlog"
@@ -135,11 +134,15 @@ func (vcc *VClusterCommands) VRemoveNode(options *VRemoveNodeOptions) (VCoordina
 
 	options.DBName = &dbName
 	options.Hosts = hosts
-	// get depot and data prefix from config file or options
+	// get depot, data and catalog prefix from config file or options
 	*options.DepotPrefix, *options.DataPrefix, err = options.getDepotAndDataPrefix(options.Config)
 	if err != nil {
 		return vdb, err
 	}
+	options.CatalogPrefix, err = options.getCatalogPrefix(options.Config)
+	if err != nil {
+		return vdb, err
+	}
 
 	err = vcc.getVDBFromRunningDB(&vdb, &options.DatabaseOptions)
 	if err != nil {
@@ -151,20 +154,46 @@ func (vcc *VClusterCommands) VRemoveNode(options *VRemoveNodeOptions) (VCoordina
 		return vdb, err
 	}
 
-	// remove_node is aborted if requirements are not met
-	err = checkRemoveNodeRequirements(&vdb, options.HostsToRemove)
+	// remove_node is aborted if requirements are not met.
+	err = checkRemoveNodeRequirements(&vdb)
 	if err != nil {
 		return vdb, err
 	}
+	// Figure out if the nodes to remove exist in the catalog. We follow
+	// *normal* remove node logic if it still exists in the catalog. We tolerate
+	// requests for nodes that aren't in the catalog because the caller may not
+	// know (e.g. previous attempt to remove node didn't come back successful).
+	// We have a simplified remove process for those requests to remove state
+	// that the caller may be checking.
+	var hostsNotInCatalog []string
+	options.HostsToRemove, hostsNotInCatalog = vdb.containNodes(options.HostsToRemove)
+
+	vdb, err = vcc.removeNodesInCatalog(options, &vdb)
+	if err != nil || len(hostsNotInCatalog) == 0 {
+		return vdb, err
+	}
+
+	return vcc.handleRemoveNodeForHostsNotInCatalog(&vdb, options, hostsNotInCatalog)
+}
 
-	err = options.setInitiator(vdb.PrimaryUpNodes)
+// removeNodesInCatalog will perform the steps to remove nodes. The node list in
+// options.HostsToRemove has already been verified that each node is in the
+// catalog.
+func (vcc *VClusterCommands) removeNodesInCatalog(options *VRemoveNodeOptions, vdb *VCoordinationDatabase) (VCoordinationDatabase, error) {
+	if len(options.HostsToRemove) == 0 {
+		vcc.Log.Info("Exit early because there are no hosts to remove")
+		return *vdb, nil
+	}
+	vcc.Log.V(1).Info("validated input hosts", "HostsToRemove", options.HostsToRemove)
+
+	err := options.setInitiator(vdb.PrimaryUpNodes)
 	if err != nil {
-		return vdb, err
+		return *vdb, err
 	}
 
-	instructions, err := vcc.produceRemoveNodeInstructions(&vdb, options)
+	instructions, err := vcc.produceRemoveNodeInstructions(vdb, options)
 	if err != nil {
-		return vdb, fmt.Errorf("fail to produce remove node instructions, %w", err)
+		return *vdb, fmt.Errorf("fail to produce remove node instructions, %w", err)
 	}
 
 	remainingHosts := util.SliceDiff(vdb.HostList, options.HostsToRemove)
@@ -177,7 +206,7 @@ func (vcc *VClusterCommands) VRemoveNode(options *VRemoveNodeOptions) (VCoordina
 		// Here we check whether the to-be-removed nodes are still in the catalog.
 		// If they have been removed from catalog, we let remove_node succeed.
 		if vcc.findRemovedNodesInCatalog(options, remainingHosts) {
-			return vdb, fmt.Errorf("fail to complete remove node operation, %w", runError)
+			return *vdb, fmt.Errorf("fail to complete remove node operation, %w", runError)
 		}
 		// If the target nodes have already been removed from catalog,
 		// show a warning about the run error for users to trouble shoot their machines
@@ -189,20 +218,57 @@ func (vcc *VClusterCommands) VRemoveNode(options *VRemoveNodeOptions) (VCoordina
 	return vdb.copy(remainingHosts), nil
 }
 
-// checkRemoveNodeRequirements validates  the following remove_node requirements:
-//   - Check the existence of the nodes to remove
-//   - Check if all nodes are up or standby (enterprise only)
-func checkRemoveNodeRequirements(vdb *VCoordinationDatabase, hostsToRemove []string) error {
-	if nodes := vdb.containNodes(hostsToRemove); len(nodes) != len(hostsToRemove) {
-		notFoundHosts := util.SliceDiff(hostsToRemove, nodes)
-		return fmt.Errorf("%s do not exist in the database", strings.Join(notFoundHosts, ","))
+// handleRemoveNodeForHostsNotInCatalog will build and execute a list of
+// instructions to do remove of hosts that aren't present in the catalog. We
+// will do basic cleanup logic for this needed by the operator.
+func (vcc *VClusterCommands) handleRemoveNodeForHostsNotInCatalog(vdb *VCoordinationDatabase, options *VRemoveNodeOptions,
+	missingHosts []string) (VCoordinationDatabase, error) {
+	vcc.Log.Info("Doing cleanup of hosts missing from database", "hostsNotInCatalog", missingHosts)
+
+	// We need to find the paths for the hosts we are removing.
+	nmaGetNodesInfoOp := makeNMAGetNodesInfoOp(vcc.Log, missingHosts, *options.DBName, *options.CatalogPrefix,
+		false /* report all errors */, vdb)
+	instructions := []clusterOp{&nmaGetNodesInfoOp}
+	certs := httpsCerts{key: options.Key, cert: options.Cert, caCert: options.CaCert}
+	opEng := makeClusterOpEngine(instructions, &certs)
+	err := opEng.run(vcc.Log)
+	if err != nil {
+		return *vdb, fmt.Errorf("failed to get node info for missing hosts: %w", err)
 	}
+
+	// Make a vdb of just the missing hosts. The host list for
+	// nmaDeleteDirectoriesOp uses the host list from the vdb.
+	vdbForDeleteDir := vdb.copy(missingHosts)
+	err = options.completeVDBSetting(&vdbForDeleteDir)
+	if err != nil {
+		return *vdb, err
+	}
+
+	// Using the paths fetched earlier, we can now build the list of directories
+	// that the NMA should remove.
+	nmaDeleteDirectoriesOp, err := makeNMADeleteDirectoriesOp(vcc.Log, &vdbForDeleteDir, *options.ForceDelete)
+	if err != nil {
+		return *vdb, err
+	}
+	instructions = []clusterOp{&nmaDeleteDirectoriesOp}
+	opEng = makeClusterOpEngine(instructions, &certs)
+	err = opEng.run(vcc.Log)
+	if err != nil {
+		return *vdb, fmt.Errorf("failed to delete directories for missing hosts: %w", err)
+	}
+
+	remainingHosts := util.SliceDiff(vdb.HostList, missingHosts)
+	return vdb.copy(remainingHosts), nil
+}
+
+// checkRemoveNodeRequirements validates any remove_node requirements. It will
+// return an error if a requirement isn't met.
+func checkRemoveNodeRequirements(vdb *VCoordinationDatabase) error {
 	if !vdb.IsEon {
 		if vdb.hasAtLeastOneDownNode() {
 			return errors.New("all nodes must be up or standby")
 		}
 	}
-
 	return nil
 }
 
@@ -379,7 +445,8 @@ func (vcc *VClusterCommands) produceDropNodeOps(instructions *[]clusterOp, targe
 	hostNodeMap vHostNodeMap, isEon bool) error {
 	for _, host := range targetHosts {
 		httpsDropNodeOp, err := makeHTTPSDropNodeOp(vcc.Log, hostNodeMap[host].Name, hosts,
-			useHTTPPassword, userName, httpsPassword, isEon)
+			useHTTPPassword, userName, httpsPassword,
+			isEon && hostNodeMap[host].State == util.NodeDownState)
 		if err != nil {
 			return err
 		}
diff --git a/vclusterops/start_db.go b/vclusterops/start_db.go
index 5dbbe25..4e429ff 100644
--- a/vclusterops/start_db.go
+++ b/vclusterops/start_db.go
@@ -189,7 +189,7 @@ func (vcc *VClusterCommands) VStartDatabase(options *VStartDatabaseOptions) erro
 
 func (vcc *VClusterCommands) runStartDBPrecheck(options *VStartDatabaseOptions, vdb *VCoordinationDatabase) error {
 	// pre-instruction to perform basic checks and get basic information
-	preInstructions, err := vcc.produceStartDBPreCheck(options, vdb)
+	preInstructions, err := vcc.produceStartDBPreCheck(options, vdb, *options.TrimHostList)
 	if err != nil {
 		return fmt.Errorf("fail to production instructions: %w", err)
 	}
@@ -202,28 +202,35 @@ func (vcc *VClusterCommands) runStartDBPrecheck(options *VStartDatabaseOptions,
 		return fmt.Errorf("fail to start database pre-checks: %w", runError)
 	}
 
-	// if TrimHostList is true,
-	// update the host list as some provided hosts may not exist in the catalog
+	// If requested, remove any provided hosts that are not in the catalog. Use
+	// the vdb that we just fetched by the catalog editor. It will be the from
+	// the latest catalog.
 	if *options.TrimHostList {
-		var trimmedHostList []string
-		var extraHosts []string
-
-		for _, h := range options.Hosts {
-			if _, exist := vdb.HostNodeMap[h]; exist {
-				trimmedHostList = append(trimmedHostList, h)
-			} else {
-				extraHosts = append(extraHosts, h)
-			}
-		}
+		options.Hosts = vcc.removeHostsNotInCatalog(&clusterOpEngine.execContext.nmaVDatabase, options.Hosts)
+	}
+
+	return nil
+}
 
-		if len(extraHosts) > 0 {
-			vcc.Log.PrintInfo("The following hosts will be trimmed as they are not found in catalog: %+v",
-				extraHosts)
-			options.Hosts = trimmedHostList
+func (vcc *VClusterCommands) removeHostsNotInCatalog(vdb *nmaVDatabase, hosts []string) []string {
+	var trimmedHostList []string
+	var extraHosts []string
+
+	vcc.Log.Info("checking if any input hosts can be removed",
+		"hosts", hosts, "hostNodeMap", vdb.HostNodeMap)
+	for _, h := range hosts {
+		if _, exist := vdb.HostNodeMap[h]; exist {
+			trimmedHostList = append(trimmedHostList, h)
+		} else {
+			extraHosts = append(extraHosts, h)
 		}
 	}
 
-	return nil
+	if len(extraHosts) > 0 {
+		vcc.Log.PrintInfo("The following hosts will be trimmed as they are not found in catalog: %+v",
+			extraHosts)
+	}
+	return trimmedHostList
 }
 
 // produceStartDBPreCheck will build a list of pre-check instructions to execute for
@@ -234,7 +241,9 @@ func (vcc *VClusterCommands) runStartDBPrecheck(options *VStartDatabaseOptions,
 //   - Check NMA connectivity
 //   - Check to see if any dbs run
 //   - Get nodes' information by calling the NMA /nodes endpoint
-func (vcc *VClusterCommands) produceStartDBPreCheck(options *VStartDatabaseOptions, vdb *VCoordinationDatabase) ([]clusterOp, error) {
+//   - Find latest catalog to use for removal of nodes not in the catalog
+func (vcc *VClusterCommands) produceStartDBPreCheck(options *VStartDatabaseOptions, vdb *VCoordinationDatabase,
+	findLatestCatalog bool) ([]clusterOp, error) {
 	var instructions []clusterOp
 
 	nmaHealthOp := makeNMAHealthOp(vcc.Log, options.Hosts)
@@ -261,6 +270,14 @@ func (vcc *VClusterCommands) produceStartDBPreCheck(options *VStartDatabaseOptio
 		instructions = append(instructions, &nmaGetNodesInfoOp)
 	}
 
+	if findLatestCatalog {
+		nmaReadCatalogEditorOp, err := makeNMAReadCatalogEditorOp(vcc.Log, vdb)
+		if err != nil {
+			return instructions, err
+		}
+		instructions = append(instructions, &nmaReadCatalogEditorOp)
+	}
+
 	return instructions, nil
 }
 
diff --git a/vclusterops/start_node.go b/vclusterops/start_node.go
index a335ba7..b8bda91 100644
--- a/vclusterops/start_node.go
+++ b/vclusterops/start_node.go
@@ -117,9 +117,10 @@ func (options *VStartNodesOptions) validateAnalyzeOptions(logger vlog.Printer) e
 }
 
 // VStartNodes starts the given nodes for a cluster that has not yet lost
-// cluster quorum and returns any error encountered.
-// If necessary, it updates the node's IP in the Vertica catalog.
-// If cluster quorum is already lost, use VStartDatabase.
+// cluster quorum. Returns any error encountered. If necessary, it updates the
+// node's IP in the Vertica catalog. If cluster quorum is already lost, use
+// VStartDatabase. It will skip any nodes given that no longer exist in the
+// catalog.
 func (vcc *VClusterCommands) VStartNodes(options *VStartNodesOptions) error {
 	/*
 	 *   - Produce Instructions
@@ -163,8 +164,12 @@ func (vcc *VClusterCommands) VStartNodes(options *VStartNodesOptions) error {
 	for nodename, newIP := range options.Nodes {
 		oldIP, ok := hostNodeNameMap[nodename]
 		if !ok {
-			vcc.Log.PrintError("fail to provide a non-existent node name %s", nodename)
-			return fmt.Errorf("the node with the provided name %s does not exist", nodename)
+			// We can get here if the caller requests a node that we were in the
+			// middle of removing. Log a warning and continue without starting
+			// that node.
+			vcc.Log.Info("skipping start of node that doesn't exist in the catalog",
+				"nodename", nodename, "newIP", newIP)
+			continue
 		}
 		// if the IP that is given is different than the IP in the catalog, a re-ip is necessary
 		if oldIP != newIP {
@@ -181,6 +186,13 @@ func (vcc *VClusterCommands) VStartNodes(options *VStartNodesOptions) error {
 	restartNodeInfo.HostsToStart = append(restartNodeInfo.HostsToStart, restartNodeInfo.ReIPList...)
 	restartNodeInfo.HostsToStart = append(restartNodeInfo.HostsToStart, hostsNoNeedToReIP...)
 
+	// If no nodes found to start. We can simply exit here. This can happen if
+	// given a list of nodes that aren't in the catalog any longer.
+	if len(restartNodeInfo.HostsToStart) == 0 {
+		vcc.Log.Info("None of the nodes provided are in the catalog. There is nothing to start.")
+		return nil
+	}
+
 	// produce restart_node instructions
 	instructions, err := vcc.produceStartNodesInstructions(restartNodeInfo, options, &vdb)
 	if err != nil {