diff --git a/docker/mongodb-kubernetes-tests/tests/search/search_community_external_mongod_basic.py b/docker/mongodb-kubernetes-tests/tests/search/search_community_external_mongod_basic.py
index 1fe7b4bcb..e0b06c777 100644
--- a/docker/mongodb-kubernetes-tests/tests/search/search_community_external_mongod_basic.py
+++ b/docker/mongodb-kubernetes-tests/tests/search/search_community_external_mongod_basic.py
@@ -71,7 +71,6 @@ def mdbs(namespace: str, mdbc: MongoDBCommunity) -> MongoDBSearch:
         "source": {
             "external": {
                 "hostAndPorts": seeds,
-                "keyfileSecretRef": {"name": f"{mdbc.name}-keyfile", "key": "keyfile"},
             },
             "passwordSecretRef": {"name": f"{MDBC_RESOURCE_NAME}-{MONGOT_USER_NAME}-password", "key": "password"},
             "username": MONGOT_USER_NAME,
diff --git a/docker/mongodb-kubernetes-tests/tests/search/search_community_external_mongod_tls.py b/docker/mongodb-kubernetes-tests/tests/search/search_community_external_mongod_tls.py
index 105bec899..bcacc7337 100644
--- a/docker/mongodb-kubernetes-tests/tests/search/search_community_external_mongod_tls.py
+++ b/docker/mongodb-kubernetes-tests/tests/search/search_community_external_mongod_tls.py
@@ -137,7 +137,6 @@ def test_create_search_resource(mdbs: MongoDBSearch, mdbc: MongoDBCommunity):
     mdbs["spec"]["source"] = {
         "external": {
             "hostAndPorts": seeds,
-            "keyfileSecretRef": {"name": f"{mdbc.name}-keyfile"},
             "tls": {
                 "ca": {"name": f"{mdbc.name}-ca"},
             },
diff --git a/docs/search/04-search-external-mongod/code_snippets/04_0318_create_external_keyfile_secret.sh b/docs/search/04-search-external-mongod/code_snippets/04_0318_create_external_keyfile_secret.sh
deleted file mode 100644
index b6f282f7a..000000000
--- a/docs/search/04-search-external-mongod/code_snippets/04_0318_create_external_keyfile_secret.sh
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,3 +0,0 @@
-kubectl --context "${K8S_CTX}" --namespace "${MDB_NS}" \
-  create secret generic "${MDB_EXTERNAL_KEYFILE_SECRET_NAME}" \
-  --from-literal=keyfile="${MDB_EXTERNAL_KEYFILE_CONTENT}"
diff --git a/docs/search/04-search-external-mongod/code_snippets/04_0320_create_mongodb_search_resource.sh b/docs/search/04-search-external-mongod/code_snippets/04_0320_create_mongodb_search_resource.sh
index ee63f8758..260357e50 100644
--- a/docs/search/04-search-external-mongod/code_snippets/04_0320_create_mongodb_search_resource.sh
+++ b/docs/search/04-search-external-mongod/code_snippets/04_0320_create_mongodb_search_resource.sh
@@ -10,9 +10,6 @@ spec:
         - ${MDB_EXTERNAL_HOST_0}
         - ${MDB_EXTERNAL_HOST_1}
         - ${MDB_EXTERNAL_HOST_2}
-      keyfileSecretRef:
-        name: ${MDB_EXTERNAL_KEYFILE_SECRET_NAME}
-        key: keyfile
     username: search-sync-source
     passwordSecretRef:
       name: ${MDB_RESOURCE_NAME}-search-sync-source-password
diff --git a/docs/search/04-search-external-mongod/env_variables.sh b/docs/search/04-search-external-mongod/env_variables.sh
index 9dfb8ecfa..8320504c6 100644
--- a/docs/search/04-search-external-mongod/env_variables.sh
+++ b/docs/search/04-search-external-mongod/env_variables.sh
@@ -17,13 +17,6 @@ export MDB_EXTERNAL_HOST_0="mdbc-rs-0.mdbc-rs-svc.${MDB_NS}.svc.cluster.local:27
 export MDB_EXTERNAL_HOST_1="mdbc-rs-1.mdbc-rs-svc.${MDB_NS}.svc.cluster.local:27017"
 export MDB_EXTERNAL_HOST_2="mdbc-rs-2.mdbc-rs-svc.${MDB_NS}.svc.cluster.local:27017"
 
-# REPLACE with your external MongoDB keyfile secret name
-export MDB_EXTERNAL_KEYFILE_SECRET_NAME="mdbc-rs-keyfile"
-
-# REPLACE with the actual keyfile content from your external MongoDB replica set
-# For testing, this will be automatically generated by the MongoDB Community resource
-export MDB_EXTERNAL_KEYFILE_CONTENT="your-mongodb-keyfile-content-CHANGE-ME"
-
 # REPLACE with your actual external MongoDB replica set name
 export MDB_EXTERNAL_REPLICA_SET_NAME="mdbc-rs"