RPC Unavailable Error Appears When You Try to Access a Cluster Server (258518)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Windows NT Server, Enterprise Edition 4.0
This article was previously published under Q258518

SYMPTOMS

When you try to access the Microsoft Cluster Server (MSCS) through the cluster administrator, the following error message may appear:
An Error occurred trying to open the cluster at 'cluster_name'
The RPC Server is unavailable
Error ID: 1722 (000006ba)

CAUSE

This behavior can occur for many reasons. The following is a list of some of the possible causes:
  • Computer specified is not a cluster server.
  • Network connection is down.
  • Cluster nodes are reporting errors
  • Cluster group is off-line.
  • Cluster service on the target system stopped.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this behavior, check to make sure the computer you are connecting to is actually a cluster server. If the cluster group has been taken off-line or paused for a soft rollover, connecting to the node name allows you to bring the resource group back online. If all other attempts to open the cluster administrator fail, specify a "." character from one of the cluster nodes when asked which cluster to administer. By specifying the "." character, the node that you are logged on to will search itself for the cluster service.

MORE INFORMATION

MSCS uses remote procedure calls (RPC) and requires that the RPC service be running on both systems. Check to make sure that the RPC service is running on both systems and that the system event logs on each server do not have any RPC-related errors.


Ensure that the server is operational and that both the Cluster Service and the RPC services are running. Also, check the name resolution of the cluster; it is possible that you are using the wrong name or that the name is not being properly resolved by WINS or DNS.

REFERENCES

For additional information about the RPC Server error message, click the article numbers below to view the articles in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

224370 Error Message: The RPC Server Is Unavailable

171781 DNS Server Fails to Start Due to Unavailable RPC Server Error

196636 XADM: RPC Server Unavailable Error During Setup On Cluster

Modification Type:MinorLast Reviewed:1/5/2006
Keywords:kbprb KB258518
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