| Cluster Service
Cluster service enables you to access and manage cluster nodes as a single system rather than as separate computers; it provides two key benefits:

- High availability — If one of the nodes in the cluster fails, another node continues to provide service, picking up where the failed node left off (a process known as failover). Critical applications and resources remain available to clients.
- Manageability — All the nodes in a cluster are managed as a single system rather than as separate computers. This makes performing administrative tasks easier and more efficient.

Important
Installing Cluster service affects the functionality of other Windows components. Before you install Cluster service on this server, read the Cluster service installation checklist to ensure you have the proper hardware and understand Clustering concepts.

Set up Cluster service.

Learn more about Cluster service.

cluster
A group of computers that cooperate to achieve a common task. A cluster must meet the following criteria: first, the cluster must be composed of whole computers, called nodes. Second, no two nodes of a cluster should have incompatible versions of the same data; this is called consistency. Finally, a cluster must be named and used as a single computing resource.
failover
Process of moving a group to another node in response to a node or resource failure.