Setting Pending States

By default, Cluster Service allows a resource to be in a pending state (online pending or offline pending) for only 180 seconds (3 minutes) before Cluster Service terminates the resource, and the resource enters a failed state. An Exchange 2003 or Windows Server 2003 cluster resource must go offline and come back online during the Pending timeout period. Cluster Service makes an exception to the Pending timeout period for the Microsoft Exchange Information Store instance. Although the Exchange store instance must go offline during that period, the store does not have to come back online in the Pending timeout period. This is because the length of time that the Exchange store takes to restart depends on whether the store shut down correctly. If the Exchange store did not shut down correctly, the store must roll through log files upon restarting, and the number of log files to be rolled through determines the time it takes to bring the store back online.

Because of the way that the Exchange store writes log files to an Exchange database, the Exchange store for which you might want to increase the Pending timeout period. Increasing the pending time-out period allows the store more time to shut down correctly. For detailed instructions, see How to Change the Length of Time That a Resource Remains Pending Before Failing Using Cluster Administrator.