Network bind order warning during SQL Server installation at failover cluster

 

Installing SQL Server 2008, 2008R2 and 2012 on failover cluster has been significantly changed from SQL Server 2000 and 2005.
Installation is performed separately on each node in order to avoid failures and downtime and much more.

One of improvements is more "in-depth" pre-installation checks.
One of the commonly ignored checks is “Network binding order”.

It has been skipped for two reasons. First reason, it’s only warning. The second and more significant reason is because sometimes it is hard to fix it.

The straightforward way to handle this kind of error is to change the network order in network connections.
Follow the KB.

If the following KB won’t solve the issue, we can manually edit “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\Tcpip\Linkage\Bind” based on the result of “wmic nicconfig get description, SettingID” command output and network connections control.
Remember that registry editing can be dangerous and prone to costly mistakes, so please backup your server's registry prior to the manual editing.

We can also use nvspbind utility instead.
It helps us query and modify the NIC and protocol order / usage.

No matter which way you chose to address this issue, the most important thing is not to skip installation warnings unless you are 100% sure you’ll fix it later before the server goes to production.

Comments

• Anonymous
  January 01, 2003
  Nice little utility, and love the last sentence! I know when I roll through an installation pre-check I try to turn all the reds and yellows to green, that way I don't lose sleep later!

• Anonymous
  January 01, 2003
  Network binding order is picked up in the sequence of how the NICs were added. Usually the Clus Virtu Adap is added in the end and its hidden, therefore the network properties (http://windows.microsoft.com/en-in/windows/change-network-protocol-bindings-order?woldogcb=0#1TC=windows-7 this will not work) won’t see it & even if you change the sequence as public NIC to the TOP the warning still appears. Other than changing the values at TcpipLinkageBind, the other option is (possible mainly with VM’s) to add the last NIC after enabling WSFC. Then you can change the order from Network Properties. A wrong sequence won’t hurt between two machine but in a larger setup…. Let’s say a mammoth with 9 SQL FCI amongst three subnet spanned across 3 DC and a whole lot of AOAG traffic, this can cause you to knock too many doors before getting the right one. You may see a quick example here [http://regularitguy.com/2012/12/06/how-to-change-nic-binding-order-in-windows-8-and-windows-server-2012/]. Because this is not known to all you may attempt to vote in here & see if they may do a changehttps://connect.microsoft.com/SQLServer/feedback/details/351710/false-network-binding-order-warning-during-setup-support-rules-check-of-cluster-installation

• Anonymous
  January 20, 2014
  Way too complicated, here is the easier way: 1.in Network Connections Press the ALT key, click Advanced, and then click Advanced Settings. 3.Under Adapters and Bindings tab -> under Connections, click the connection you want SQL to use and move it up to the top of the list. 4.Under Bindings for , select the protocol that you want SQL to use and move it up to the top.

• Anonymous
  March 05, 2014
  For me, the Microsoft Failover Cluster Virtual adapter was listed first in the registry and not visible in the settings panel. I found this post which may help fix without registry entires:https://blogs.technet.com/b/askcore/archive/2010/04/15/windows-server-2008-failover-clusters-networking-part-4.aspx