password change for sql service account in clustering environment

hi,

i am getting a little confuse after doing some googling.

Some suggested to change the password of the sql service account on the active node first , meaning:

1. change on active node 1 first ( instance is alive on)

2. change passive node 2 (instance still in active node 1)

3. swing over the instance to node 2 to see whether the password is updated or not.

some are suggesting :

Please try the following steps:

1. Change the service account/password on the passive node;
2. Manually fail over the cluster to passitive node;
3. Change the service acocunt/password on the new passive node (previous active node).

Ps. Please use SQL Server Configuration Manager to manage SQL Server service accounts

I need some further advice ....

mine is SQl 2008R2 on windows server 2008r2 64bit , service account is a domain acc.

From the official site: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/972387

Method 1

Note We recommend that you use this method if possible.

Schedule the password change during a maintenance window and change the password of the service accounts on each node of the failover cluster with the instance actively running on that node. The password must be changed through Configuration Manager as discussed in How to: Change the Password of the Accounts Used by SQL Server (SQL Server Configuration Manager).

Note When you change the password of the SQL Server service account by using the configuration manager on the active node, this does not change the password for the service account on the passive node. So if you do not change the password on each of the nodes as mentioned above, when a failover occurs, the service account uses the old password and the services using the account will fail to come online on that node with the following error message:

Method 2

Note You can use this method when you cannot afford downtime to make password changes.

1. On the current active node change the password using SQL Server Configuration manager as discussed in How to: Change the Password of the Accounts Used by SQL Server (SQL Server Configuration Manager).
2. On each of the passive nodes, change the password of the SQL Service account using Service Control manager (Services.msc), immediately after the passwords are changed on the active node through Configuration Manager.

on method 1:

Question: what do you mean by -> hange the password of the service accounts on each node of the failover cluster with the instance actively running on that node

you mean:

1. change active node 1 (instance is alive on)

2. swing instance to node 2 and then change the password ??how can i do that cos i have not change the node 2 (passive node password) and when u do that swing before change node 2 password, i am sure there will be hitting some sort of errors.