A dependent resource requires, or depends on, another resource to operate. For example, if a Generic Application resource requires access to shared physical storage; it would depend on a Physical Disk resource. The following terms describe resources in a dependency relationship:
- A dependent resource depends on other resources (the dependencies).
- A dependency is a resource on which another resource depends.
- A dependency hierarchy is a series of dependency relationships such that resource A depends on resource B, resource B depends on resource C, and so on.
Resources in a dependency relationship obey the following rules:
- A dependent resource and all of its dependencies must be in the same group.
- The Cluster service takes a dependent resource offline before any of its dependencies are taken offline, and brings a dependent resource online after all its dependencies are online, as determined by the dependency hierarchy.
Some of the default resource types have required dependencies, as summarized in the following table.
| Resource | Required dependencies |
|---|---|
| DHCP Service | Physical Disk resource |
| Distributed Transaction Coordinator | Network Name resource, Physical Disk resource |
| File Share | None |
| Generic Application | None |
| Generic Service | None |
| IP Address | None |
| Message Queuing (MSMQ) | IP Address resource, Network Name resource, Physical Disk resource |
| Network Name | IP Address resource |
| Physical Disk | None |
| Print Spooler | Network Name resource, Physical Disk resource |
| WINS Service | Physical Disk resource |