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Event ID 1561 — Cluster Service Startup

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Applies To: Windows Server 2008

The Cluster service is the essential software component that controls all aspects of failover cluster operation and manages the cluster configuration database. If the Cluster service fails to start on a failover cluster node, the node cannot function as part of the cluster.

Event Details

Product: Windows Operating System
ID: 1561
Source: Microsoft-Windows-FailoverClustering
Version: 6.0
Symbolic Name: SERVICE_NONSTORAGE_WITNESS_BETTER_TAG
Message: The cluster service has determined that this node does not have the latest copy of cluster configuration data. Therefore, the cluster service has prevented itself from starting on this node.
Try starting the cluster service on all nodes in the cluster. If the cluster service can be started on other nodes with the latest copy of the cluster configuration data, this node will be able to subsequently join the started cluster successfully.

If there are no nodes available with the latest copy of the cluster configuration data, please consult the documentation for 'Force Cluster Start' in the failover cluster management snapin, or the 'forcequorum' startup option. Note that this action of forcing quorum should be considered a last resort, since some cluster configuration changes may well be lost.

Resolve

Review location of the latest cluster configuration and start cluster accordingly

One of the nodes does not contain the latest copy of the cluster configuration, which means the Cluster service will not start on that node. Try starting the Cluster service on all other nodes in the cluster. If the Cluster service can be started on a node with the latest copy of the cluster configuration data, then the node that previously could not be started will probably be able to obtain the latest copy and then join the cluster successfully.

If there are no nodes available with the latest copy of the cluster configuration, use the Force Cluster Start command. This action should be considered a last resort, because some cluster configuration changes could be lost.

To perform the following procedure, you must be a member of the local Administrators group on each clustered server, and the account you use must be a domain account, or you must have been delegated the equivalent authority.

To force the cluster to start:

  1. On a node that contains a copy of the cluster configuration that you want to use, open the Failover Cluster Management snap-in.

    To open the failover cluster snap-in, click Start, click Administrative Tools, and then click Failover Cluster Management. If the User Account Control dialog box appears, confirm that the action it displays is what you want, and then click Continue.

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

  3. Click the cluster, and then under Actions (on the right), click Force Cluster Start. (Under most circumstances, that is, when no error has been triggered by the existence of older copies of the cluster configuration, this command is not available in the Windows interface.)

    Note   When you use this command on a given node, the copy of the cluster configuration that is on that node will be treated as the authoritative copy of the configuration and will be replicated to all other nodes.

Verify

To perform this procedure, you must be a member of the local Administrators group on each clustered server, and the account you use must be a domain account, or you must have been delegated the equivalent authority.

Verifying that the Cluster service is started on all the nodes in a failover cluster

To verify that the Cluster service is started on all the nodes in a failover cluster:

  1. To open the failover cluster snap-in, click Start, click Administrative Tools, and then click Failover Cluster Management. If the User Account Control dialog box appears, confirm that the action it displays is what you want, and then click Continue.
  2. In the Failover Cluster Management snap-in, if the cluster you want to manage is not displayed, in the console tree, right-click Failover Cluster Management, click Manage a Cluster, and then select or specify the cluster that you want.
  3. If the console tree is collapsed, expand the tree under the cluster you want to manage, and then click Nodes.
  4. View the status for each node. If a node is Up, the Cluster service is started on that node.

Another way to check whether the Cluster service is started is to run a command on a node in the cluster.

Using a command to check whether the Cluster service is started on a node

To use a command to check whether the Cluster service is started on a node:

  1. On the node that you are checking, click Start, point to All Programs, click Accessories, right-click Command Prompt, and then click Run as administrator.

  2. Type:

    CLUSTER NODE /STATUS

    If the node status is Up, the Cluster service is started on that node.

Cluster Service Startup

Failover Clustering