Run a disk maintenance tool such as Chkdsk on a Physical Disk resource

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Applies To: Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2003 with SP1, Windows Server 2003 with SP2

To run a disk maintenance tool such as Chkdsk on a Physical Disk resource

  1. Determine whether an application is dependent on the Physical Disk resource and whether that application will fail (or will not respond smoothly) if it cannot access or write to the disk. If so, pause or stop the application, or notify users that the application will become unavailable.

  2. Open a command prompt.

  3. Turn on maintenance mode by typing a command with the following syntax:

    cluster [ClusterName] res DiskResourceName /maint:on

  4. Confirm that maintenance mode is on by typing a command with the following syntax:

    cluster [ClusterName] res DiskResourceName /maint

  5. Run your disk maintenance tool, for example, Chkdsk.

  6. When the maintenance tool has finished running, type a command with the following syntax:

    cluster [ClusterName] res DiskResourceName /maint:off

  7. Confirm that maintenance mode is off by typing a command with the following syntax:

    cluster [ClusterName] res DiskResourceName /maint

  8. Check the state of any application that is dependent on the Physical Disk resource. If necessary, restart the applications and inform users that the applications are available.

Notes

  • To open a command prompt, click Start, point to All programs, point to Accessories, and then click Command prompt.

  • You can use maintenance mode only on a Physical Disk resource, and only when that resource is online.

  • Maintenance mode is designed to allow maintenance tools to run on a Physical Disk resource without being interrupted by failover. While maintenance mode is on, the resource appears to be online, but your maintenance tool might make the disk unavailable to applications (for example, when you run Chkdsk with the /f option to fix disk errors, the disk becomes unavailable). While maintenance mode is on, failures from Looks Alive and Is Alive polling are ignored and therefore the running of the maintenance tool on the resource does not trigger a failover.

  • Maintenance mode will remain on until you turn it off or until one of the following occurs:

    • The resource goes offline or fails.

    • The node on which the resource is running restarts or loses communication with other nodes (which causes failover of all resources on that node).

  • As soon as any maintenance tools (for example, Chkdsk) have finished running, turn the maintenance mode off.

  • An event is logged when maintenance mode is turned on or off.

Information about functional differences

  • Your server might function differently based on the version and edition of the operating system that is installed, your account permissions, and your menu settings. For more information, see Viewing Help on the Web.

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See Also

Concepts

Physical Disk resource type
Cluster resource
chkdsk