Verifying the cluster configuration

Last published : Aug 05, 2026
You can verify your installation by moving the cluster group between nodes to see if it fails over properly. The ultimate test of the cluster's failover capability involves shutting down the node that is currently online and bringing it back up after the cluster fails over to the other node.
To verify the configuration of a cluster, either move the online groups, or shut down an active cluster node, as follows:
  • Use Failover Cluster Management to move all the resource groups from one node to another.
  • Simulate a failover by shutting down an active cluster node.
    Caution: Do not simulate failover in a production environment.
To move online groups
  1. Open Administrative Tools > Failover Cluster Management from the Start screen.
  2. In the left pane, under Services and Applications, right-click a resource group and then click Move this service or application to another node > Move to node nameOfNode.
If there is more than one resource group, you must repeat this step until all the resource groups are moved.
  1. In the Failover Cluster Management console, center panel, verify that the Current Owner name has changed for all of the resource groups that were moved. This confirms that the resource groups have moved to another system.
  2. If you need to move the resource groups back to the original system, repeat step 2.
To shut down an active cluster node
  1. Shut down the active cluster node normally.
  2. Open Administrative Tools > Failover Cluster Management from the Start screen on any node in the cluster.
  3. In Failover Cluster Management, verify that the owner name has changed. This confirms that all the resource groups have moved to another node.
  4. If you need to move the resource groups back to the original node, restart the node you shut down in the first step, select the resource group, and use Move this service or application to another node > Move to node nameOfNode to move the resource group.