A server technician is applying a security patch to an active-passive failover SQL cluster. However, the cluster must continue to service clients during the process with limited outages. Given this…

Failing back to the original active node is an optional post-maintenance step that does not describe how to patch both nodes while keeping service available throughout.

Keeping services on the passive node after patching only addresses where services end up, not the procedure for patching both cluster nodes with minimal disruption.

Moving services to the active node and then patching it means patching the node that is actively serving clients, which would cause unplanned service disruption.

Patching the passive node first causes zero service impact because it is not servicing clients. After patching, a controlled failover transfers client connections to the newly patched node, resulting in only a brief, planned interruption. The original active node - now passive - can then be patched safely, completing the update of both nodes while meeting the limited-outage requirement.