Pause or Resume a Node in a Failover Cluster

When you pause a node, existing groups and resources stay online, but additional groups and resources cannot be brought online on the node. Pausing a node is usually done when applying software updates to the node, where the recommended sequence is to move all services and applications off of the node, pause the node, then apply software updates to the node.

If you need to perform extensive diagnosis or maintenance on a cluster node, it might not be workable to simply pause the node. In that case, you can stop the Cluster service on that node. For more information, see Start or Stop the Cluster Service on a Cluster Node.

Membership in the local Administrators group on each clustered server, or equivalent, is the minimum required to complete this procedure. Also, the account you use must be a domain account. Review details about using the appropriate accounts and group memberships at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=83477.

To pause or resume a node in a failover cluster by using the Windows interface

1. In the Failover Cluster Manager snap-in, if the cluster you want to manage is not displayed, in the console tree, right-click Failover Cluster Manager, click Manage a Cluster, and select or specify the cluster you want.

2. If the console tree is collapsed, expand the tree under the cluster you want to manage.

3. Expand the console tree under Nodes.

4. Right-click the node you want to pause or resume, and then either click Pause or Resume.

Additional considerations

• You can also perform the task described in this procedure by using Windows PowerShell. For more information about using Windows PowerShell for failover clusters, see http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=135119 and http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=135120.
  
  
• To open the failover cluster snap-in, click Start, click Administrative Tools, and then click Failover Cluster Manager. If the User Account Control dialog box appears, confirm that the action it displays is what you want, and then click Yes.
  
  

Additional references

• Managing a Failover Cluster
  
  
• For additional operations information for failover clusters, see http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=137835.
  
  
• For troubleshooting information for failover clusters, see http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=137836.