Cluster reconfiguration occurs if a node leaves or joins a cluster. Each node's cluster monitor continuously watches the other cluster nodes. When the membership of the cluster changes, the cluster monitor informs VxVM for it to take appropriate action.

During cluster reconfiguration, VxVM suspends I/O to shared disks. I/O resumes when the reconfiguration completes. Applications may appear to freeze for a short time during reconfiguration.

If other operations, such as VxVM operations or recoveries, are in progress, cluster reconfiguration can be delayed until those operations complete. Volume reconfigurations do not take place at the same time as cluster reconfigurations. Depending on the circumstances, an operation may be held up and restarted later. In most cases, cluster reconfiguration takes precedence. However, if the volume reconfiguration is in the commit stage, it completes first.