The Microsoft Cluster Service is removed from the cluster node when you try to join a cluster node to a Windows Server 2003-based cluster

Consider the following scenario:

�	You try to join a cluster node to a Microsoft Windows Server 2003-based cluster.
�	The cluster node does not join the cluster.

In this scenario, the Microsoft Cluster Service (MSCS) is removed from the cluster node. Additionally, on the cluster node, you receive an error message that resembles the following:When you view the %Windir%\Cluster\Cluster.log file, you may see entries that resemble the following:

Date-Time WARN [JOIN] Attempting join with sponsor 192.168.222.23.
Date-Time INFO [NMJOIN] Beginning cluster join process.
Date-Time ERR [NMJOIN] Unable to begin join, status 5893.
Date-Time WARN [JOIN] NmJoinCluster failed, status 5893.
Date-Time INFO [INIT] Cleaning up failed join attempt.
Date-Time INFO [INIT] Leaving cluster
Date-Time INFO [NM] Interface cleanup starting...
Date-Time INFO [NM] Network interface cleanup complete
Date-Time INFO [NM] Network cleanup starting...
Date-Time INFO [NM] Network cleanup complete
Date-Time INFO [NM] Node cleanup starting...
Date-Time INFO [NM] Node cleanup complete
Date-Time WARN [NM] Shutdown of the Cluster Network driver failed, status 21
Date-Time INFO [INIT] Deregistering RPC endpoints & interfaces.
Date-Time WARN [INIT] This node has been evicted from the cluster when it was unavailable. Initiating cleanup.
Date-Time ERR [CS] ClusterInitialize failed 5893
Date-Time WARN [INIT] The cluster service is shutting down.
Date-Time INFO [EVT] EvShutdown
Date-Time WARN [FM] Shutdown: Failover Manager requested to shutdown groups.
Date-Time INFO [FM] FmpCleanupGroups: Entry
Date-Time INFO [FM] FmpCleanupGroups: Exit
Date-Time INFO [Dm] DmShutdown
Date-Time INFO [DM] DmpShutdownFlusher: Entry
Date-Time INFO [DM] DmpShutdownFlusher: Setting event
Date-Time INFO [DM] DmpRegistryFlusher: got 0
Date-Time INFO [DM] DmpRegistryFlusher: exiting
Date-Time WARN [MM] MMLeave is called when rgp=NULL.
Date-Time ERR [CS] Service Stopped. exit code = 5893

Note The %Windir% placeholder represents the path of the Windows system folder. Typically, the path of the Windows system folder is C:\Windows.

This issue occurs because the cluster instance ID of the cluster node that joins the cluster does not match the cluster instance ID of the sponsor node.

This behavior is by design.

When a cluster node joins a Windows Server 2003-based cluster, the cluster node extracts the cluster instance ID from its local database. The cluster instance ID is located in the following registry entry:The sponsor node will compare this cluster instance ID with its local cluster instance ID value. Because the cluster instance ID is created when the cluster is created, the cluster instance ID will be unique for each cluster. Therefore, if there is any difference in the cluster instance ID value of the cluster node that joins the cluster and the sponsor node, the MSCS will be removed from the cluster node that joins the cluster.

For example, you may have two clusters that have the same name. These two clusters may start at the same time. When this occurs, one of the clusters will be removed, and the cluster service will be completely uninstalled.