Abstract: The present invention provides a system, method and apparatus for facilitating the failover of a cluster process from a physical node to a virtual node so that interrupts of the affected software application are minimized. Upon detection that a node on the cluster has failed, a signal is sent to the failover or the backup server to start a virtual machine (virtual node) that can accommodate the failed process. The failed process is then resumed on the virtual node until the failed node is rebooted, repaired, or replaced. Once the failed node is made operational, the process that is running on the virtual node is transferred back to the newly operational node.