S-GATE functionality preventing SQL Server cluster from starting

Diagnosing The Problem

Intermittent problems can occur when starting a SQL Server cluster that contains servers with S-TAPs using the S-GATE blocking functionality.

To identify if S-GATE blocking functionality with firewall closed mode is configured in the environment, look for the following settings enabled in the STAP ini file:
firewall_installed = 1
firewall_timeout = 10
firewall_fail_close = 1
firewall_default_state = 1


Furthermore, check system logs for a similar '1032 (0xfffffbf8)' error occurrences during the startup failure as given in the example below:

Example errors found in the Windows Application Event log:

sqlservr (8324) Error -1032
(0xfffffbf8) occurred while opening logfile C:
\Windows\system32\LogFiles\Sum\Api.log.

or

Windows System Event Log:

The SQL Server (Server_Name) service
terminated unexpectedly.