The Cluster Volume Manager (CVM) architecture is such that two different volumes can be accessed from two different nodes but same volume cannot be accessed from different nodes. Volumes from the same cluster-shared disk group can be shared exclusively from multiple nodes in a Microsoft failover cluster.

In such a shared storage pool, where any node in the cluster can access a disk group, volume access modes are used to avoid data corruption. Volume access is defined in terms of nodes where only one node in a given cluster is granted access to the volume.

When a volume is brought online on a node, then that node is given access to the volume, while the rest of the nodes cannot access the volume. To give another node access to the same volume, you must first bring the volume offline on the node where it is online, and then bring it online on the other node.

The following states are applicable for cluster-shared volumes: