Cluster connection

[Guest]

Hello:

I have a 2 node cluster (Windows 2003). When I shutdown both nodes or when
there is a network problem in both nodes I can not connect to the cluster
through the cluster administrator using the cluster name, but I can connect
to the cluster if I specify "." to connect to it.
What is the reason? Why cannot I connect to the cluster using the cluster
name?

Thank you for your time

 

[John Toner [MVP]]

When you shut down both nodes, you no longer have a cluster available so it
makes sense that you cannot connect to the cluster.

When you have a network problem, the "Cluster Name" resource will go offline
(or failed) so you can no longer access this resource. The Cluster Name
resource is just that, it's a Network Name resource in cluster. If it fails,
you will no longer be able to connect to the cluster by accessing this
offline resource.

The reason that "." works is that this connects to cluster using a different
protocol. When you enter any name in the "connect to cluster" box, it uses
RPC to connect to that server. If you enter a dot "." it uses LPC to connect
to the local cluster service on the server where you're running CluAdmin.
This way, you can open cluster administrator and bring the failed/offline
resource back online. Once these resources are back online, you should be
able to connect to the cluster using the named value again.

Hope this helps.

Regards,
John