OK, I successfully did a second attempt. There were 2 issues (which combined threw me off the track): - There was a uncommitted rolechange for a server to be searchhead (Monitoring Console -> general settings). That (so I assume), has been applied on the first activity. And later been reverted before the second try. - When changing the servername of the Manager Node, the searchheads aren't able to verify the connection anymore (name of the certstore does not fit anymore). Therefor they go missing in the monitoring console. You have to reset/reapply the connection credentials (settings -> distributed search -> search peers). I think the 1st issue resulted in the SHC to go offline. Because this did not happen on the second implementation. Problem solved. ... View more