<div class="content" name="Introduction" uuid="6dc2fb50-bdd1-4b72-8b90-b0a0d37bf413"><p>The Failover Cluster: Management API (ClusAPI) Protocol is a
<span><a href="694e5e7a-5833-4f3d-b47e-323ee1d452c2#gt_8a7f6700-8311-45bc-af10-82e10accd331" data-linktype="relative-path">remote
procedure call (RPC)</a></span>–based protocol that is used for remotely
managing a <span><a href="694e5e7a-5833-4f3d-b47e-323ee1d452c2#gt_acd8b49c-8762-48fd-9272-26a03643322b" data-linktype="relative-path">failover cluster</a></span>.
Managing a failover cluster involves managing the data that represents the
configuration of the <span><a href="694e5e7a-5833-4f3d-b47e-323ee1d452c2#gt_feef37b3-c173-4f51-aab6-b55a6366259b" data-linktype="relative-path">cluster</a></span>, the
entities that constitute the cluster, and the applications and services that
run in a cluster. For example, the ClusAPI Protocol is used to determine the
version of the cluster and to read and write data in the <span><a href="694e5e7a-5833-4f3d-b47e-323ee1d452c2#gt_13de67f6-ac9d-491f-8dfb-12601a8b0838" data-linktype="relative-path">cluster
registry</a></span>. This protocol is also used to determine whether a computer
system is currently acting as a member of a failover cluster. Lastly, the
ClusAPI Protocol is used to control and query a service or application that is
hosted by a failover cluster.</p><p>Sections 1.5, 1.8, 1.9, 2, and 3 of this specification are
normative. All other sections and examples in this specification are
informative.</p></div>