sql cluster failover slower failover when only cluster and client network fails much faster when all networks fail

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2025-08-12T14:58:24.01+00:00

We have setup a simple two node SQL Server Cluster using SQL cluster (not WSFC windows cluster), plus witness disk, with two network adaptors on each node Cluster network 1 = 'Cluster and Client' / Cluster network 2 = 'Cluster only'.

SQL server version - 2022 enterprise

MS Server - 2022 standard

During testing we have noted on this very simple setup that when we disconnect the network cable of the NIC 'Cluster network 1' (with cluster and client function) the time taken to failover to the second node is approx. 1 minute 45 seconds, if we however fail both network adaptors at the same time on node 1 (or power off the server), the time to failover to node 2 is approx. 20-25 seconds.

The time is counted from the failure event (as described above) to when the resources shown in the screenshot become all online (which is when the database can be accessed again by client).

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My issue is that the first scenario takes so much time that the database is offline during this period and I don't know why or quite where to start diagnosing this issue.

Windows for business | Windows 365 Business
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