How to promote the secondary node in a two-node cluster

How-to Clusters failoverpromotewitnesstwo nodessplit brain

With two nodes, the license server is the witness; behind one shared public IP promotion is manual. Verify the primary is really down first.

With two nodes, "the primary died" and "the link between us broke" look identical from either side, so promotion needs a tie-breaker.

Automatic: the witness

If the secondary cannot see the primary it asks the license server, which checks live for about a minute. If it cannot see the primary either, the secondary promotes itself and the generation counter advances. When the old primary returns it sees the higher generation and rejoins as a follower; it does not take the role back.

Manual: when both nodes share one public IP

The witness cannot tell them apart, so failover is manual.

1. On the secondary's screen, read the notice that the primary is unreachable.
2. Verify the other node is really down, not just unreachable from here (console of the provider, another panel, a phone call).
3. Only then promote:

   panel cluster-tomar-mando

4. The command starts a new one-member cluster from this node's copy of the database. The old primary is left out until you re-invite it.

The command refuses to run when the cluster has three or more nodes, where promotion is automatic.

Last updated: 2026-10-10