---
title: "Failover Cluster Instance administration & maintenance"
description: Learn about maintenance and administration of SQL Server failover cluster instances with the SQL Server Setup program or the Failover Cluster Manager snap-in.
ms.custom: seo-lt-2019
ms.date: "03/14/2017"
ms.prod: sql
ms.reviewer: ""
ms.technology: high-availability
ms.topic: how-to
helpviewer_keywords:
- "user accounts [SQL Server], failover clustering"
- "clusters [SQL Server], maintaining"
- "nodes [Faillover Clustering]"
- "failover clustering [SQL Server], maintaining"
- "adding nodes"
- "virtual servers [SQL Server], removing nodes"
- "clustered instance of SQL Server"
- "nodes [Faillover Clustering], removing"
- "nodes [Faillover Clustering], adding"
- "service accounts [SQL Server]"
- "removing nodes"
- "virtual servers [SQL Server], adding nodes"
ms.assetid: 2d5c63e9-8061-45c3-94db-8dd3100b8a91
: cawrites
ms.: chadam
---[!INCLUDE SQL Server] Maintenance tasks like adding or removing nodes from an existing Always On Failover Cluster Instance (FCI) are accomplished using the [!INCLUDEssNoVersion] Setup program. Other administration tasks like changing the IP address resource, recovering from certain FCI scenarios are accomplished using the Failover Cluster Manager snap-in, which is the management snap-in for the Windows Server Failover Clustering (WSFC) service.
After you have installed an FCI, you can change or repair it using the [!INCLUDEssNoVersion] Setup program. For example, you can add additional nodes to an FCI, run an FCI as a stand-alone instance, or remove a node from a FCI configuration.
[!INCLUDEssNoVersion] Setup gives you the option of maintaining an existing FCI. If you choose this option, you can add other nodes to your FCI by running [!INCLUDEssNoVersion] Setup on the computer that you want to add to the FCI. For more information, see Create a New SQL Server Failover Cluster (Setup) and Add or Remove Nodes in a SQL Server Failover Cluster (Setup).
You can remove a node from an FCI by running [!INCLUDEssNoVersion] Setup on the computer that you want to remove from the FCI. Each node in an FCI is considered a peer without dependencies on other nodes on the FCI, and you can remove any node. A damaged node does not have to be available to be removed, and the removal process does not uninstall the [!INCLUDEssNoVersion] binaries from the unavailable node. A removed node can be added back to a FCI at any time. For more information, see Add or Remove Nodes in a SQL Server Failover Cluster (Setup).
You should not change passwords for any of the [!INCLUDEssNoVersion] service accounts when an FCI node is down or offline. If you must do this, you must reset the password again by using [!INCLUDEssNoVersion] Configuration Manager when all nodes are back online.
If the service account for [!INCLUDEssNoVersion] is not an administrator in your cluster, the administrative shares cannot be deleted on any nodes of the cluster. The administrative shares must be available in a cluster for [!INCLUDEssNoVersion] to function.
Important
Do not use the same account for the [!INCLUDEssNoVersion] service account and the WSFC service account. If the password changes for the WSFC service account, your [!INCLUDEssNoVersion] installation will fail.
On [!INCLUDEnextref_longhorn], service SIDs are used for [!INCLUDEssNoVersion] service accounts. For more information, see Configure Windows Service Accounts and Permissions.
| Task Description | Topic Link |
|---|---|
| Describes how to add dependencies to a [!INCLUDEssNoVersion] resource. | Add Dependencies to a SQL Server Resource |
| Kerberos is a network authentication protocol designed to provide strong authentication for client/server applications. Kerberos provides a foundation for interoperability and helps to enhance the security of enterprise-wide network authentication. You can use Kerberos authentication with [!INCLUDEssNoVersion] stand-alone instances or with Always On FCIs. | Register a Service Principal Name for Kerberos Connections. |
| Provides links to content that describes how to enable Kerberos authentication | |
| Describes the procedure used to recover from a [!INCLUDEssNoVersion] failover cluster failure. | Recover from Failover Cluster Instance Failure |
| Describe the procedure used to change the IP address resource for a [!INCLUDEssNoVersion] failover cluster instance. | Change the IP Address of a Failover Cluster Instance |
Configure HealthCheckTimeout Property Settings
Configure FailureConditionLevel Property Settings
View and Read Failover Cluster Instance Diagnostics Log