Repeated FailoverClustering-Client event logs in event viewer (event ID 81)

This is a known bug/behavior with Windows/SQL (most commonly seen with 2019). My understanding is our normal discovery process to simply check if an instance is clustered can trigger this, and similarly can be generated by many other applications. Web searching “FailoverClustering-Client error 81” will illustrate this.

All of our research indicates it is completely benign and can be ignored.

The only consistent option we have found is frankly to filter it out of the Event Logs to avoid it bloating the Event Logs. Below are the steps to do so if you wish.

The above event has no impact on SQL Sentry and Windows Operations and can be safely ignored. To do this, follow these steps using the provided guid as an example and not the actual guid id. Be aware that these steps will require a reboot of the machine for the registry edit to take effect.

1. Click on the error/warning in the Event Viewer and click on the Details tab.
2. Write down the guid id. In these steps, we will be using {a82fake-guid-409c-b0fe-GuidExample} as an example.
3. Open regedit and use your event's guid id to go to [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\WMI\Autologger\EventLog-System\ {a82fake-guid-409c-b0fe-GuidExample}].
4. On the right window, where the registry entries are, look for "Enabled".
5. Double click on Enabled to open the editor.
6. Modify the Enabled entry value to 0 and reboot (it might need two reboots) for the entry to take effect.

This is a known bug/behavior with Windows/SQL (most commonly seen with 2019). My understanding is our normal discovery process to simply check if an instance is clustered can trigger this, and similarly can be generated by many other applications. Web searching “FailoverClustering-Client error 81” will illustrate this.

All of our research indicates it is completely benign and can be ignored.

The only consistent option we have found is frankly to filter it out of the Event Logs to avoid it bloating the Event Logs. Below are the steps to do so if you wish.

The above event has no impact on SQL Sentry and Windows Operations and can be safely ignored. To do this, follow these steps using the provided guid as an example and not the actual guid id. Be aware that these steps will require a reboot of the machine for the registry edit to take effect.

1. Click on the error/warning in the Event Viewer and click on the Details tab.
2. Write down the guid id. In these steps, we will be using {a82fake-guid-409c-b0fe-GuidExample} as an example.
3. Open regedit and use your event's guid id to go to [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\WMI\Autologger\EventLog-System\ {a82fake-guid-409c-b0fe-GuidExample}].
4. On the right window, where the registry entries are, look for "Enabled".
5. Double click on Enabled to open the editor.
6. Modify the Enabled entry value to 0 and reboot (it might need two reboots) for the entry to take effect.