--- 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 author: MashaMSFT ms.author: mathoma --- # Failover Cluster Instance Administration and Maintenance [!INCLUDE [SQL Server](../../../includes/applies-to-version/sqlserver.md)] Maintenance tasks like adding or removing nodes from an existing Always On Failover Cluster Instance (FCI) are accomplished using the [!INCLUDE[ssNoVersion](../../../includes/ssnoversion-md.md)] 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. ## Maintaining a Failover Cluster Instance After you have installed an FCI, you can change or repair it using the [!INCLUDE[ssNoVersion](../../../includes/ssnoversion-md.md)] 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. ### Adding a Node to an Existing Failover Cluster Instance [!INCLUDE[ssNoVersion](../../../includes/ssnoversion-md.md)] 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 [!INCLUDE[ssNoVersion](../../../includes/ssnoversion-md.md)] Setup on the computer that you want to add to the FCI. For more information, see [Create a New SQL Server Failover Cluster (Setup)](../../../sql-server/failover-clusters/install/create-a-new-sql-server-failover-cluster-setup.md) and [Add or Remove Nodes in a SQL Server Failover Cluster (Setup)](../../../sql-server/failover-clusters/install/add-or-remove-nodes-in-a-sql-server-failover-cluster-setup.md). ### Removing a Node from an Existing Failover Cluster Instance You can remove a node from an FCI by running [!INCLUDE[ssNoVersion](../../../includes/ssnoversion-md.md)] 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 [!INCLUDE[ssNoVersion](../../../includes/ssnoversion-md.md)] 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)](../../../sql-server/failover-clusters/install/add-or-remove-nodes-in-a-sql-server-failover-cluster-setup.md). ### Changing Service Accounts You should not change passwords for any of the [!INCLUDE[ssNoVersion](../../../includes/ssnoversion-md.md)] service accounts when an FCI node is down or offline. If you must do this, you must reset the password again by using [!INCLUDE[ssNoVersion](../../../includes/ssnoversion-md.md)] Configuration Manager when all nodes are back online. If the service account for [!INCLUDE[ssNoVersion](../../../includes/ssnoversion-md.md)] 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 [!INCLUDE[ssNoVersion](../../../includes/ssnoversion-md.md)] to function. > [!IMPORTANT] > Do not use the same account for the [!INCLUDE[ssNoVersion](../../../includes/ssnoversion-md.md)] service account and the WSFC service account. If the password changes for the WSFC service account, your [!INCLUDE[ssNoVersion](../../../includes/ssnoversion-md.md)] installation will fail. On [!INCLUDE[nextref_longhorn](../../../includes/nextref-longhorn-md.md)], service SIDs are used for [!INCLUDE[ssNoVersion](../../../includes/ssnoversion-md.md)] service accounts. For more information, see [Configure Windows Service Accounts and Permissions](../../../database-engine/configure-windows/configure-windows-service-accounts-and-permissions.md). ## Administering a Failover Cluster Instance |Task Description|Topic Link| |----------------------|----------------| |Describes how to add dependencies to a [!INCLUDE[ssNoVersion](../../../includes/ssnoversion-md.md)] resource.|[Add Dependencies to a SQL Server Resource](../../../sql-server/failover-clusters/windows/add-dependencies-to-a-sql-server-resource.md)| |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 [!INCLUDE[ssNoVersion](../../../includes/ssnoversion-md.md)] stand-alone instances or with Always On FCIs.|[Register a Service Principal Name for Kerberos Connections](../../../database-engine/configure-windows/register-a-service-principal-name-for-kerberos-connections.md).| |Provides links to content that describes how to enable Kerberos authentication|| |Describes the procedure used to recover from a [!INCLUDE[ssNoVersion](../../../includes/ssnoversion-md.md)] failover cluster failure.|[Recover from Failover Cluster Instance Failure](../../../sql-server/failover-clusters/windows/recover-from-failover-cluster-instance-failure.md)| |Describe the procedure used to change the IP address resource for a [!INCLUDE[ssNoVersion](../../../includes/ssnoversion-md.md)] failover cluster instance.|[Change the IP Address of a Failover Cluster Instance](../../../sql-server/failover-clusters/windows/change-the-ip-address-of-a-failover-cluster-instance.md)| ## See Also [Configure HealthCheckTimeout Property Settings](../../../sql-server/failover-clusters/windows/configure-healthchecktimeout-property-settings.md) [Configure FailureConditionLevel Property Settings](../../../sql-server/failover-clusters/windows/configure-failureconditionlevel-property-settings.md) [View and Read Failover Cluster Instance Diagnostics Log](../../../sql-server/failover-clusters/windows/view-and-read-failover-cluster-instance-diagnostics-log.md)