Failover Cluster APIs

Purpose

The Failover Cluster APIs are provided by failover clustering on Windows Server. Developers can use the Failover Cluster APIs to do these tasks:

  • Define software and hardware component types to manage on a failover cluster.
  • Run clustering tasks that increase the scalability and availability of the application.
  • Monitor and control failover clusters.

In this section

What's New

A summary of changes to the Failover Cluster APIs.

About the Failover Cluster APIs

Overview and architecture:

Conceptual documentation that includes overview information and describes the architecture of the Failover Cluster APIs.

This section includes information about:

  • Failover clusters
  • Application types
  • API components

Using the Failover Cluster API

Programming tasks and guidance:

Task oriented documentation that describes how to use the Failover Cluster APIs.

This section includes information about:

  • IDE setup info
  • Choosing an application type
  • Determining the programming elements to implement
  • Using the APIs to complete tasks
  • Programming conventions
  • Programming examples

Failover Cluster Reference

Reference documentation:

Reference documentation that describes the programming elements of the Failover Cluster APIs.

This section includes reference information about:

  • The Failover Cluster API
  • The Failover Cluster Automation Server
  • The Failover Cluster Configuration API

Failover Cluster Glossary

A glossary that describes the terms used in this documentation.

Additional resources

For more external information about the technologies used by the Failover Cluster APIs, refer to the following resources:

Information Resource
Installing, configuring, and administering a failover cluster
  • Windows Server 2008 R2: [Failover Clusters](/previous-versions/windows/it-pro/windows-server-2008-R2-and-2008/cc754482(v=ws.11))
  • Windows Server 2012 R2: [Failover Clustering Overview](/previous-versions/windows/it-pro/windows-server-2012-R2-and-2012/hh831579(v=ws.11))
The clustering concept, common clustering models, and the history and current state of clustering technology
  • In Search of Clusters, Second Edition, by Gregory F. Pfister, ISBN: 0-13-899709-8.
Component Object Model (COM) programming and automation
  • COM and Automation documentation on [MSDN Library](Http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?linkid=83469).
  • Inside COM by Dale Rogerson, ISBN: 1-57231-349-8.
Supporting Unicode in your applications
  • [Unicode and Character Sets](/windows/win32/intl/unicode-and-character-sets)
  • Advanced Windows, Third Edition, by Jeffrey Richter, ISBN: 1572315482.
Scripting
  • Windows Script Host, Active Server Pages (ASP), Scripting, JScript Language, and VBScript Language References on MSDN.
Synchronization objects, asynchronous event notifications, reentrancy, services, and thread and process management
  • [Dynamic-Link Libraries](/windows/win32/dlls/dynamic-link-libraries).
  • [Processes and Threads](/windows/win32/procthread/processes-and-threads).

 

Windows Clustering

Component Object Model (COM)

Failover Cluster Provider Reference