Sandra Delany is perilously close to running afoul of Betteridge’s Law of Headlines:
Should a SQL Server DBA know how a Windows cluster works, and or how to create a Windows cluster, or troubleshoot a cluster? Or should we, as DBAs, stay in our lane? In some organizations, a line is drawn between what a DBA can and can’t do and the System Administrator (SA) has the Infrastructure roles and responsibilities. This is fine, but that doesn’t mean a DBA shouldn’t know how to troubleshoot a FCI (Failover Cluster Instance) or AG (Availability Group) issue after an unplanned cluster-level failover. (Yes – you can create an AG without a cluster, but that will not be taken into consideration here.)
Read on for some quick tips to get ramped up on what is available in a Failover Cluster Instance.