Setting up a witness resource is mandatory for all clusters,  and should be set up right after you create a cluster. Two-node clusters need a witness so that either server going offline does not cause the other node to become unavailable as well. Three and higher-node clusters need a witness to be able to withstand two servers failing or being offline.

You can either use an SMB file share as a witness or use an Azure cloud witness. An Azure cloud witness is recommended, provided all server nodes in the cluster have a reliable internet connection.

Set up a witness using Windows Admin Center

1. In Windows Admin Center, select Cluster Managerfrom the top drop-down arrow.
2. Under Cluster connections, select the cluster.
3. Under Tools, select Settings.
4. In the right pane, select Witness.
5. For Witness type, select one of the following:
   • Cloud witness– enter your Azure storage account name, access key, and endpoint URL,
     1. Set-ClusterQuorum –Cluster “Cluster1” -CloudWitness -AccountName “AzureStorageAccountName” -AccessKey “AzureStorageAccountAccessKey”
   • File share witness– enter the file share path “(//server/share)”

1. • 1. 1. 1. Set-ClusterQuorum -FileShareWitness “\\fileserver\share” -Credential (Get-Credential)

Access Key

In the Azure portal, navigate to your storage account, click All settings and then click Access Keys to view

endpoint URL links

In the Azure portal, navigate to your storage account, click All settings and then click Properties to view and copy your endpoint URLs.