diff --git a/ambry-clustermap/src/main/java/com/github/ambry/clustermap/HelixBootstrapUpgradeUtil.java b/ambry-clustermap/src/main/java/com/github/ambry/clustermap/HelixBootstrapUpgradeUtil.java
index b9fcc462fc..221f680ee7 100644
--- a/ambry-clustermap/src/main/java/com/github/ambry/clustermap/HelixBootstrapUpgradeUtil.java
+++ b/ambry-clustermap/src/main/java/com/github/ambry/clustermap/HelixBootstrapUpgradeUtil.java
@@ -2123,14 +2123,20 @@ private void removeDataNodeConfigFromHelix(String dcName, String instanceName,
       String question =
           String.format("Are you sure you want to remove instance %s from property store and instance config",
               instanceName);
-      String line = System.console().readLine("%s (y[es]/n[o]): ", question).toLowerCase();
-      boolean shouldDelete = line.equals("yes") || line.equals("y");
-      lock.unlock();
-
-      if (!shouldDelete) {
-        // terminate the process right away.
-        System.exit(1);
+      // Keep retrying until the user provides a valid input
+      boolean validInput = false;
+      while (!validInput) {
+          String line = System.console().readLine("%s (y[es]/n[o]): ", question).toLowerCase();
+          if (line.equals("yes") || line.equals("y")) {
+              validInput = true;
+          } else if (line.equals("no") || line.equals("n")) {
+              lock.unlock();
+              System.exit(1);
+          } else {
+              System.out.println("Invalid input. Please enter 'yes' or 'no'.");
+          }
       }
+      lock.unlock();
     }
     adminForDc.get(dcName).dropInstance(clusterName, new InstanceConfig(instanceName));
     if (dataNodeConfigSourceType == PROPERTY_STORE) {
@@ -3354,4 +3360,4 @@ private void logSummary() {
           validatingHelixClusterManager.helixClusterManagerMetrics.ignoredUpdatesCount.getCount());
     }
   }
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+}