diff --git a/storage_controller/src/service.rs b/storage_controller/src/service.rs
index dcc1dac165..f74017c172 100644
--- a/storage_controller/src/service.rs
+++ b/storage_controller/src/service.rs
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ use std::{
 };
 
 use crate::{
-    background_node_operations::{self, Controller},
+    background_node_operations::{self, Controller, OperationError, MAX_RECONCILES_PER_OPERATION},
     compute_hook::NotifyError,
     id_lock_map::{trace_exclusive_lock, trace_shared_lock, IdLockMap, WrappedWriteGuard},
     persistence::{AbortShardSplitStatus, TenantFilter},
@@ -4996,4 +4996,100 @@ impl Service {
         // to complete.
         self.gate.close().await;
     }
+
+    pub(crate) async fn drain_node(
+        &self,
+        node_id: NodeId,
+        cancel: CancellationToken,
+    ) -> Result<(), OperationError> {
+        tracing::info!(%node_id, "Starting drain background operation");
+
+        let mut last_inspected_shard: Option<TenantShardId> = None;
+        let mut inspected_all_shards = false;
+        let mut waiters = Vec::new();
+        let mut schedule_context = ScheduleContext::default();
+
+        while !inspected_all_shards {
+            if cancel.is_cancelled() {
+                return Err(OperationError::Cancelled);
+            }
+
+            {
+                let mut locked = self.inner.write().unwrap();
+                let (nodes, tenants, scheduler) = locked.parts_mut();
+
+                let node = nodes.get(&node_id).ok_or(OperationError::NodeStateChanged(
+                    format!("node {node_id} was removed").into(),
+                ))?;
+
+                let current_policy = node.get_scheduling();
+                if !matches!(current_policy, NodeSchedulingPolicy::Draining) {
+                    // TODO(vlad): maybe cancel pending reconciles before erroring out. need to think
+                    // about it
+                    return Err(OperationError::NodeStateChanged(
+                        format!("node {node_id} changed state to {current_policy:?}").into(),
+                    ));
+                }
+
+                let mut cursor = tenants.iter_mut().skip_while({
+                    let skip_past = last_inspected_shard;
+                    move |(tid, _)| match skip_past {
+                        Some(last) => **tid != last,
+                        None => false,
+                    }
+                });
+
+                while waiters.len() < MAX_RECONCILES_PER_OPERATION {
+                    let (tid, tenant_shard) = match cursor.next() {
+                        Some(some) => some,
+                        None => {
+                            inspected_all_shards = true;
+                            break;
+                        }
+                    };
+
+                    if tenant_shard.intent.demote_attached(scheduler, node_id) {
+                        tenant_shard.sequence = tenant_shard.sequence.next();
+                        match tenant_shard.schedule(scheduler, &mut schedule_context) {
+                            Err(e) => {
+                                tracing::warn!(%tid, "Scheduling error when draining pageserver {} : {e}", node_id);
+                            }
+                            Ok(()) => {
+                                let waiter = self.maybe_reconcile_shard(tenant_shard, nodes);
+                                if let Some(some) = waiter {
+                                    waiters.push(some);
+                                }
+                            }
+                        }
+                    }
+
+                    last_inspected_shard = Some(*tid);
+                }
+            }
+
+            waiters = self.kick_waiters(waiters, SHORT_RECONCILE_TIMEOUT).await;
+        }
+
+        while !waiters.is_empty() {
+            waiters = self.kick_waiters(waiters, SHORT_RECONCILE_TIMEOUT).await;
+        }
+
+        // At this point we have done the best we could to drain shards from this node.
+        // Set the node scheduling policy to `[NodeSchedulingPolicy::PauseForRestart]`
+        // to complete the drain.
+        if let Err(err) = self
+            .node_configure(node_id, None, Some(NodeSchedulingPolicy::PauseForRestart))
+            .await
+        {
+            // This is not fatal. Anything that is polling the node scheduling policy to detect
+            // the end of the drain operations will hang, but all such places should enforce an
+            // overall timeout. The scheduling policy will be updated upon node re-attach and/or
+            // by the counterpart fill operation.
+            tracing::warn!(%node_id, "Failed to finalise drain by setting scheduling policy: {err}");
+        }
+
+        tracing::info!(%node_id, "Completed drain background operation");
+
+        Ok(())
+    }
 }