Restart SQL Server Agent – How to Restart SQL Server Agent on a Cluster Installation

clusteringsql-server-2008-r2sql-server-agent

I've just enabled the mail profile in SQL Server Agent and I need to restart the service for it to take affect but the Agent is running as part of a SQL Server cluster and I don't want the cluster manager to think there is a problem and fail-over all of the services to the other node.

What is the correct way to restart the SQL Server Agent on a SQL Server instance that is clustered?

Best Answer

Set the resource/service for SQL Agent as offline via the failover cluster manager, and then back online.