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SQL Server Failover Cluster Cannot Connect to NetApp File Share Witness via CNAME

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ontap-9
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nas
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Applies to

  • NetApp ONTAP 9.13.1P6 (Cluster-Mode)
  • Windows Server Failover Cluster (WSFC)
  • SQL Server Failover Clustering with File Share Witness
  • SMB/CIFS File Shares hosted on NetApp SVM
  • DNS CNAME usage for SMB File Share Witness

Issue

When configuring a Windows Server Failover Cluster (WSFC) for SQL Server, attempts to use a DNS CNAME  pointing to a NetApp SVM  as the File Share Witness result in a failure. The cluster validation or configuration wizard shows the error:

“It is not possible to determine whether the server is a cluster. Indicates two revision levels are incompatible.”

Symptoms and Observations:

  • Direct access to the SVM hostname (A record, e.g., \\\\vservername\\witness) works for the File Share Witness.
  • The same CNAME-based configuration works in other sites/domains .
  • Windows Explorer can access shares via the CNAME from affected site, but SQL Server Failover Cluster cannot use it for File Share Witness.
  • Packet traces and ONTAP logs show successful SMB/CIFS responses from NetApp; no protocol errors or version mismatches are seen on the storage side.

Relevant Log Output:

  • SQL Cluster GUI:
    "It is not possible to determine whether the server is a cluster. Indicates two revision levels are incompatible."
  • DNS nslookup confirms CNAME resolves to the correct A record and IPs.

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