A single VCS cluster consists of multiple systems that are connected in various combinations to shared storage devices. When a system is part of a VCS cluster, it is a node. VCS monitors and controls applications running in the cluster on nodes, and restarts applications in response to a variety of hardware or software faults.

Applications can continue to operate with little or no downtime. In some cases, such as NFS, this continuation is transparent to high-level applications and users. In other cases, a user might have to retry an operation, such as a Web server reloading a page.

Figure: Example of a four-node VCS cluster illustrates a typical VCS configuration of four nodes that are connected to shared storage.

Client workstations receive service over the public network from applications running on VCS nodes. VCS monitors the nodes and their services. VCS nodes in the cluster communicate over a private network.