How to manage a Windows Server 2012 R2 Failover Cluster from a Windows 7 client

Shared disk of some sort is required for the disks that the MSMQ data will be stored on.

The cost of the SAN isn't the main issue -- it's rather the fact that the SAN becomes a single point of failure.

SANs aren't really considered a single point of failure. They have redundant controllers, redundant paths from the server to the SAN, redundant paths from the controllers to the spindles. If spindle failure is an issue you can clone the LUN to a second set of disks for maximum redundancy. If you have a second array you can even replicate from one array to another.

Most storage arrays are designed for 99.999% uptime if not more. Some are designed for 99.9999% uptime and some can provide even more uptime than that.

I have seen this also in the past when I deployed a failover cluster. One time I fixed it by executing the following PowerShell command: Remove-ClusterNode After that I executed the following command to clear the configuration on the node: Clear-ClusterNode You have to start the Windows Powershell Modules from the Administrative Tools otherwise these commands won't work. After that I was able to succesful join it to the cluster

If these commands don't work, I'm afraid you have to reinstall the operating system on each node of the cluster.