Summary: When trying to start the Cluster Service, you may get a message saying, “Windows could not start the Cluster Service on Local Computer.” In this post, we will explore this issue and discuss the ways to troubleshoot it. We’ll also mention an Exchange repair software that can help resolve the issue if it has occurred due to corrupt database.
In Exchange Server to have high availability, you need to have a Database Availability Group (DAG), which will properly work if the Windows Cluster Service run on all the participating nodes. If the service is not running, the replication and cluster will not function correctly.
Sometimes, while checking the performance and health of the service, you notice that the Cluster Service is not running. To check this issue, you can also see the Database Availability Group (DAG) section in the Exchange Control Panel (ECP), where all the nodes will be shown along with the witness server. You would see that a particular node is shown as No under IS OPERATIONAL section.
In such a case, you need to first check the malfunctioning server and also try to start the Cluster Service. However, you may get a reply from the service saying, ?Windows could not start the Cluster Service on Local Computer”. For more information, review the System Event Log. If this is a non-Microsoft service, contact the service vendor, and refer to service-specific error code 2.
Troubleshooting the Issue
Let?s see how to resolve the Windows could not start the Cluster Service issue.
Solution 1 : When you have such issues, you need to first check the logs of the company to trace back any particular changes that might have affected the service. You can check if any changes are done to the configuration, any server maintenance done before the issue, or any account is disabled or changed. Sometimes, tracing back the changes that were done on the server would give you a good indication on what went wrong, thus helping in resolving the issue.
Solution 2 : If there is no such log of changes, it is strongly suggested to keep a change management log to ensure that all is done in the right maintenance window and the changes are vetted by the responsible persons.
Solution 3 : When you have a Cluster installed on a server, it is always started and run under a specific Active Directory user. It doesn?t use the system accounts. So, there could be issues with the account. You need to ensure that the same service account is used throughout the nodes of the same cluster.
- First thing to check is that the Windows Cluster account is active and working fine. For this, you need to open the Active Directory Users and Computers. When you find the cluster account, right-click on the account and click on Properties.
- Under the Account expires section, you need to check the account is either set to Never or the date when it expires. If the account is expired, you need to either change the password or the expiry date.
- You need to also check, near Unlock account, if there is any message saying the account is locked. In this case, tick the Unlock account option and press on OK. This will unlock the account.
- Once this is done and the account is active, check if the issue is resolved. If the issue is still persisting, you need to check the permissions of the account on the said server. The Cluster setup configuration and execution changes the local security policy for the set account and grants the user rights to the account. For this, the cluster user must have administrative rights on the server. If this is the case, it would be done from the Computer Management, Local Users and Groups, and Groups section. Make sure that the Cluster service account is part of the group.
Solution 4 : If this fails, then you can consider a reboot of the inflicted server. Sometimes, this resolves such issues. However, it?s not something to rely on.
Solution 5 : You can also ensure that the second server was not updated as a cluster would have issues if the Exchange Servers do not match updates or the Windows Server operating system are not the same. So, ensure that the update/patch levels are the same for all the nodes in the cluster.
Solution 6 : The other source of information is the Event Log. There could be issues with the databases on the server. This may show an error in the Event Logs, similar to this.
Failed to mount database "DB01". Error: An Active Manager operation failed. Error: The database action failed. Error: An error occurred while trying to select a database copy for possible activation. Error: The database 'DB01' was not mounted because errors occurred either while validating database copies for possible activation, or while attempting to activate another copy. Detailed error(s):EX02:An Active Manager operation failed. Error: Invalid Active Manager configuration. Error: Unable to access cluster root key (Error: An error occurred while attempting a cluster operation. Error: Cluster API failed: "OpenCluster(null) failed with 0x6d9. Error: There are no more endpoints available from the endpoint mapper") [Server: EX02.mycompany.lan][Database: DB01, Server: EX02.mycompany.lan]Solution 7 : From the above error message, it looks there is misconfiguration in the Active Manager. In this case, the best option is to try to remove the database from the cluster and re-instate it.
What if the above Fails?
If this fails, there could be issues with the node which is stopping the service from starting and mounting the databases. To resolve this, you can evict the server from the cluster, decommission it, and re-install the server from scratch. However, this would involve a lot of work. The main problem is consistency of data and possible data loss as the databases which hold the information might be corrupted or the transaction logs could be missing, thus leaving you with data loss.
In such a case, you can use an Exchange Server Recovery software such as Stellar Repair for Exchange as it can retrieve data from the database file with no data loss. With this application, you can open corrupt EDB database from any version of Exchange Server and granularly export the recovered database to PST and other formats. The application can also export the recovered database directly to a live Exchange Server database or Office 365. It has features such as parallel mailboxes recovery, prioritize recovery for VIP mailboxes, automatic mailbox matching, and continuation in case of interruption. It helps to resolve the issues with minimum impact to the business and in the least possible time. This makes Stellar Repair for Exchange an ideal application in such situations.
