diff --git a/swift/common/utils.py b/swift/common/utils.py
index f19fd7a48d..8cfbf2b3dd 100644
--- a/swift/common/utils.py
+++ b/swift/common/utils.py
@@ -1796,8 +1796,7 @@ def affinity_key_function(affinity_str):
     priority values are what comes after the equals sign.
 
     If affinity_str is empty or all whitespace, then the resulting function
-    will not alter the ordering of the nodes. However, if affinity_str
-    contains an invalid value, then None is returned.
+    will not alter the ordering of the nodes.
 
     :param affinity_str: affinity config value, e.g. "r1z2=3"
                          or "r1=1, r2z1=2, r2z2=2"
diff --git a/swift/proxy/server.py b/swift/proxy/server.py
index 1d5f968d3c..9721186ee5 100644
--- a/swift/proxy/server.py
+++ b/swift/proxy/server.py
@@ -138,7 +138,7 @@ class Application(object):
             raise ValueError(
                 'Invalid request_node_count value: %r' % ''.join(value))
         try:
-            read_affinity = conf.get('read_affinity', '')
+            self._read_affinity = read_affinity = conf.get('read_affinity', '')
             self.read_affinity_sort_key = affinity_key_function(read_affinity)
         except ValueError as err:
             # make the message a little more useful
@@ -200,6 +200,15 @@ class Application(object):
             max_container_name_length=constraints.MAX_CONTAINER_NAME_LENGTH,
             max_object_name_length=constraints.MAX_OBJECT_NAME_LENGTH)
 
+    def check_config(self):
+        """
+        Check the configuration for possible errors
+        """
+        if self._read_affinity and self.sorting_method != 'affinity':
+            self.logger.warn("sorting_method is set to '%s', not 'affinity'; "
+                             "read_affinity setting will have no effect." %
+                             self.sorting_method)
+
     def get_controller(self, path):
         """
         Get the controller to handle a request.
@@ -530,4 +539,6 @@ def app_factory(global_conf, **local_conf):
     """paste.deploy app factory for creating WSGI proxy apps."""
     conf = global_conf.copy()
     conf.update(local_conf)
-    return Application(conf)
+    app = Application(conf)
+    app.check_config()
+    return app