diff --git a/src/ZB.MOM.WW.ScadaBridge.Host/Program.cs b/src/ZB.MOM.WW.ScadaBridge.Host/Program.cs
index 15dc6e54..a89f3221 100644
--- a/src/ZB.MOM.WW.ScadaBridge.Host/Program.cs
+++ b/src/ZB.MOM.WW.ScadaBridge.Host/Program.cs
@@ -162,6 +162,12 @@ try
 {
     Log.Information("Starting ScadaBridge host as {Role} on {Hostname}", nodeRole, nodeHostname);
 
+    // Non-fatal preflight findings (StartupValidator.CollectWarnings) are logged here rather than
+    // inside Validate because the validator runs before Serilog exists. Today: a clustered Central
+    // still on the per-node SQLite inbound API key store (design 2026-09-02, register row 108).
+    foreach (var warning in StartupValidator.CollectWarnings(configuration))
+        Log.Warning("Startup configuration warning: {Warning}", warning);
+
     if (nodeRole.Equals("Central", StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase))
     {
         var builder = WebApplication.CreateBuilder(args);
diff --git a/src/ZB.MOM.WW.ScadaBridge.Host/StartupValidator.cs b/src/ZB.MOM.WW.ScadaBridge.Host/StartupValidator.cs
index 1985ff29..35559383 100644
--- a/src/ZB.MOM.WW.ScadaBridge.Host/StartupValidator.cs
+++ b/src/ZB.MOM.WW.ScadaBridge.Host/StartupValidator.cs
@@ -88,7 +88,16 @@ public static class StartupValidator
                 // baseline used elsewhere.
                 .Require("ScadaBridge:InboundApi:ApiKeyPepper",
                     value => !string.IsNullOrEmpty(value) && value.Length >= 16,
-                    "is required and must be at least 16 characters for Central (backs the inbound API-key peppered-HMAC verifier)"))
+                    "is required and must be at least 16 characters for Central (backs the inbound API-key peppered-HMAC verifier)")
+                // The inbound API key store provider (design 2026-09-02). Not required — an
+                // unset value defaults to Sqlite (InboundApiKeyStoreOptions.ReadProvider) — but
+                // when it IS set, it must be one of the two legal values so a typo fails fast at
+                // boot instead of throwing later out of ReadProvider once the host is already up.
+                .Require("ScadaBridge:InboundApi:ApiKeyStore:Provider",
+                    value => string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(value)
+                        || (Enum.TryParse<InboundApiKeyStoreProvider>(value, ignoreCase: true, out var provider)
+                            && Enum.IsDefined(provider)),
+                    "must be 'Sqlite' or 'SqlServer' when set"))
             // SeedNodes count (unconditional, after SiteId).
             .Require("ScadaBridge:Cluster:SeedNodes",
                 _ => seedNodes != null && seedNodes.Count >= 2,
@@ -211,6 +220,28 @@ public static class StartupValidator
             .ThrowIfInvalid();
     }
 
+    /// <summary>Non-fatal configuration findings. Collected separately from <see cref="Validate"/> because this runs before the logger exists; Program.cs logs each entry at Warning once Serilog is configured.</summary>
+    public static IReadOnlyList<string> CollectWarnings(IConfiguration configuration)
+    {
+        var role = configuration.GetSection("ScadaBridge:Node")["Role"];
+        var seedNodes = configuration.GetSection("ScadaBridge:Cluster:SeedNodes").Get<List<string>>();
+        var provider = InboundApiKeyStoreOptions.ReadProvider(configuration);
+
+        if (role == "Central"
+            && seedNodes is { Count: >= 2 }
+            && provider == InboundApiKeyStoreProvider.Sqlite)
+        {
+            return new[]
+            {
+                $"Inbound API keys use the per-node SQLite store on a {seedNodes.Count}-node central "
+                + "cluster; a failover will reject every inbound client until keys are re-issued. Set "
+                + "ScadaBridge:InboundApi:ApiKeyStore:Provider=SqlServer (design 2026-09-02)."
+            };
+        }
+
+        return Array.Empty<string>();
+    }
+
     /// <summary>
     /// Extracts the TCP port from an Akka seed-node address of the form
     /// <c>akka.tcp://system@host:port</c>. Returns <c>-1</c> when no port can be parsed.
diff --git a/tests/ZB.MOM.WW.ScadaBridge.Host.Tests/StartupValidatorTests.cs b/tests/ZB.MOM.WW.ScadaBridge.Host.Tests/StartupValidatorTests.cs
index c489e9e9..a89216d3 100644
--- a/tests/ZB.MOM.WW.ScadaBridge.Host.Tests/StartupValidatorTests.cs
+++ b/tests/ZB.MOM.WW.ScadaBridge.Host.Tests/StartupValidatorTests.cs
@@ -694,6 +694,91 @@ public class StartupValidatorTests
         Assert.Null(ex);
     }
 
+    [Fact]
+    public void CollectWarnings_WarnsForTwoSeedCentralOnSqlite()
+    {
+        // Design 2026-09-02: the inbound API key store is per-node SQLite by default, so a
+        // 2+-node central cluster is one failover away from rejecting every inbound client.
+        var config = BuildConfig(ValidCentralConfig());
+
+        var warnings = StartupValidator.CollectWarnings(config);
+
+        var warning = Assert.Single(warnings);
+        Assert.Contains("2-node", warning);
+        Assert.Contains("SQLite", warning);
+        Assert.Contains("Provider=SqlServer", warning);
+    }
+
+    [Fact]
+    public void CollectWarnings_WarnsWhenProviderExplicitlySqlite()
+    {
+        var values = ValidCentralConfig();
+        values["ScadaBridge:InboundApi:ApiKeyStore:Provider"] = "sqlite";
+        var config = BuildConfig(values);
+
+        var warnings = StartupValidator.CollectWarnings(config);
+
+        Assert.Single(warnings);
+    }
+
+    [Fact]
+    public void CollectWarnings_SilentForSqlServer()
+    {
+        var values = ValidCentralConfig();
+        values["ScadaBridge:InboundApi:ApiKeyStore:Provider"] = "SqlServer";
+        var config = BuildConfig(values);
+
+        var warnings = StartupValidator.CollectWarnings(config);
+
+        Assert.Empty(warnings);
+    }
+
+    [Fact]
+    public void CollectWarnings_SilentForSingleSeedCentral()
+    {
+        // CollectWarnings is independent of Validate's own >=2-seeds requirement — it should
+        // simply not fire the failover warning when there is nothing to fail over to.
+        var values = ValidCentralConfig();
+        values.Remove("ScadaBridge:Cluster:SeedNodes:1");
+        var config = BuildConfig(values);
+
+        var warnings = StartupValidator.CollectWarnings(config);
+
+        Assert.Empty(warnings);
+    }
+
+    [Fact]
+    public void CollectWarnings_SilentForSite()
+    {
+        var config = BuildConfig(ValidSiteConfig());
+
+        var warnings = StartupValidator.CollectWarnings(config);
+
+        Assert.Empty(warnings);
+    }
+
+    [Fact]
+    public void Validate_RejectsUnknownApiKeyStoreProvider()
+    {
+        var values = ValidCentralConfig();
+        values["ScadaBridge:InboundApi:ApiKeyStore:Provider"] = "Postgres";
+        var config = BuildConfig(values);
+
+        var ex = Assert.Throws<InvalidOperationException>(() => StartupValidator.Validate(config));
+        Assert.Contains("ScadaBridge:InboundApi:ApiKeyStore:Provider", ex.Message);
+    }
+
+    [Fact]
+    public void Validate_AcceptsProviderCaseInsensitively()
+    {
+        var values = ValidCentralConfig();
+        values["ScadaBridge:InboundApi:ApiKeyStore:Provider"] = "SQLSERVER";
+        var config = BuildConfig(values);
+
+        var ex = Record.Exception(() => StartupValidator.Validate(config));
+        Assert.Null(ex);
+    }
+
     [Fact]
     public void MultipleErrors_AllReported()
     {