Specifying a different failover node

Last published : Apr 02, 2026
You can do the following:
  • Change the order in which the nodes fail over.
  • Add a failover node to the cluster.
  • Remove a failover node from the cluster.
    Note: By default, in a MSCS cluster, failover from the controlling node to a designated node occurs in alphabetical order according to the machine name of each node. To change the order in which failover will occur on the designated nodes, rename the machines in the order in which they should fail over.
Before you add a node to the Backup Exec cluster configuration, you must install Backup Exec on it. Cluster services for a node should be online before you add or remove it from the cluster.
If you are removing a node, do not run the cluster configuration wizard from the node you want to remove.
To add or remove a failover node
  1. On the controlling node, click the Backup Exec button, select Configuration and Settings , and then select Cluster Configuration Wizard.
  2. Follow the instructions on the screen to add or remove a node.
  3. If you have added a failover node, also add any locally attached storage devices that are to be used when failover occurs to the cluster storage pool. This ensures that jobs can be run on the storage devices that are attached to the failover nodes.
If you remove some but not all nodes in a cluster, an uninstall of Backup Exec results in a password being requested for the virtual server and the services continuing to run. You must remove Backup Exec from all nodes on the cluster.
See Uninstalling Backup Exec from a Microsoft cluster.
See Specifying a different failover node.
See Configurations for Backup Exec and Microsoft Cluster Servers.