A Microsoft Cluster Server consists of two nodes (CPUs with memory and a private, non-sharable disk) with highly-available shared storage, usually provided via SAN or NAS. Software running on each node monitors the health of the other nodes as well as the shared storage. The cluster can be configured such that if one node fails, the other node automatically takes over the services of the failed node. This binds the hosts together more closely than a collection of stand-alone servers and results in the increased availability of webMethods Broker.