Forcing failover on the primary or secondary node

Last published : Sep 03, 2026
If you force failover on the primary node, the primary becomes the secondary and the secondary becomes the primary. Forced failover is possible only when the primary node can determine that the secondary node is UP.
If the secondary node is DOWN, the force failover command returns the following error message: "Operation not possible due to invalid peer state. Rectify and retry."
If the secondary system is in the claiming state or inactive, the command returns the following error message: "Operation not possible now. Please wait for system to stabilize before retrying."
If you run the force failover command from the secondary node, the secondary node becomes primary and the primary node becomes secondary. A force failover can occur only if the secondary node’s health is good and the node is not configured to stay secondary.
If the secondary node cannot become the primary node, or if the secondary node was configured to stay secondary (using the STAYSECONDARY option), the node displays the following error message: "Operation not possible as my state is invalid. View the node for more information."
Related information
Forcing failover from a node

To force failover on the primary or a secondary node

  1. In the configuration utility, on the Configuration tab, in the navigation pane, expand System and then click High Availability.
  2. In the details pane, on the Nodes tab, select the primary node, and then in Actions, click Force Failover.
  3. In the Warning dialog box, click Yes.