Generic service failed

If you do not currently have Event Viewer open, see "Opening Event Viewer and viewing events related to failover clustering." If the event contains an error code that you have not yet looked up, see "Finding more information about error codes that some event messages contain." After reviewing events, confirm that the following are true for the service used by the clustered Generic Service instance:

• The parameters specified for service startup are appropriate. For information about viewing parameter settings, see "Viewing or changing the service name and other settings for a clustered Generic Service instance" and "Opening Services and viewing, starting, or restarting a service."
• If the service depends on other clustered resources, those dependencies are reflected in the configuration of the clustered Generic Service instance. For more information, see "Viewing or changing the service name and other settings for a clustered Generic Service instance."
• The service will start successfully if you start it through the Services snap-in. For more information, see "Opening Services and viewing, starting, or restarting a service."
• If the service interacts with other files, permissions on those files are not interfering with the running of the service.

If all of the preceding items appear to be configured correctly, check Event Viewer for other errors related to the service to see what might be interfering with the service.

To perform these procedures, you must be a member of the local Administrators group on the server, or you must have been delegated the equivalent authority.

Viewing or changing the service name and other settings for a clustered Generic Service instance

To view or change the service name and other settings for a clustered Generic Service instance:

1. To open the failover cluster snap-in, click Start, click Administrative Tools, and then click Failover Cluster Management. If the User Account Control dialog box appears, confirm that the action it displays is what you want, and then click Continue.
2. In the Failover Cluster Management snap-in, if the cluster you want to manage is not displayed, in the console tree, right-click Failover Cluster Management, click Manage a Cluster, and then select or specify the cluster that you want.
3. If the console tree is collapsed, expand the tree under the cluster you want to manage, and then expand Services and Applications.
4. In the console tree, click the clustered Generic Service instance.
5. Under Actions (on the right), click Show Dependency Report. Review the dependencies between the resources and then close the report.
6. With the the clustered Generic Service instance still selected, in the center pane (not the console tree), right-click the Generic Service resource, and then click Properties.
7. Click the General tab, and make sure that the Service name and Startup parameters are entered as intended.
8. Click the Dependencies tab and review or adjust the dependencies as needed.
9. Click the Advanced Policies tab, and review any settings that might be of interest on this tab.
10. Click the Policies tab, and review any settings that might be of interest on this tab.

Opening Services and viewing, starting, or restarting a service

To open Services and view, start, or restart a service:

1. If Server Manager is not already open, click Start, click Administrative Tools, and then click Server Manager. If the User Account Control dialog box appears, confirm that the action it displays is what you want, and then click Continue.
2. In the console tree, expand Configuration, and then click Services.
3. In the center pane, scroll to the service you want to view, right-click the service, and then click Properties.
4. View the status of the service. If needed, start or restart the service by clicking Start or by clicking Stop and then Start.

Opening Event Viewer and viewing events related to failover clustering

To open Event Viewer and view events related to failover clustering:

1. If Server Manager is not already open, click Start, click Administrative Tools, and then click Server Manager. If the User Account Control dialog box appears, confirm that the action it displays is what you want, and then click Continue.
2. In the console tree, expand Diagnostics, expand Event Viewer, expand Windows Logs, and then click System.
3. To filter the events so that only events with a Source of FailoverClustering are shown, in the Actions pane, click Filter Current Log. On the Filter tab, in the Event sources box, select FailoverClustering. Select other options as appropriate, and then click OK.
4. To sort the displayed events by date and time, in the center pane, click the Date and Time column heading.

Finding more information about the error codes that some event messages contain

To find more information about the error codes that some event messages contain:

1. View the event, and note the error code.
2. Look up more information about the error code in one of two ways:
   • Search System Error Codes ( http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=83027).
   • Click Start, point to All Programs, click Accessories, click Command Prompt, and then type:

     NET HELPMSG errorcode

<Rule ID="Microsoft.Windows.2008.Cluster.Management.Monitoring.Generic.service.failed" Enabled="true" Target="Clus2008Library!Microsoft.Windows.2008.Cluster.Monitoring.Service" ConfirmDelivery="true" Remotable="true" Priority="Normal" DiscardLevel="100">

  <Category>Alert</Category>

  <DataSources>

    <DataSource ID="DS" TypeID="Microsoft.Windows.2008.Cluster.EventProvider">

      <Criteria>

        <SimpleExpression>

          <ValueExpression>

            <XPathQuery>EventDisplayNumber</XPathQuery>

          </ValueExpression>

          <Operator>Equal</Operator>

          <ValueExpression>

            <Value>1042</Value>

          </ValueExpression>

        </SimpleExpression>

      </Criteria>

      <LogName>System</LogName>

      <PublisherName>Microsoft-Windows-FailoverClustering</PublisherName>

    </DataSource>

  </DataSources>

  <WriteActions>

    <WriteAction ID="WA" TypeID="ClusLibrary!Microsoft.Windows.Cluster.GenerateAlertAction.SuppressedByDescription">

      <Priority>1</Priority>

      <Severity>2</Severity>

      <AlertMessageId>$MPElement[Name="Microsoft.Windows.2008.Cluster.Management.Monitoring.Generic.service.failed.AlertMessage"]$</AlertMessageId>

    </WriteAction>

  </WriteActions>

</Rule>