Always ON - What is the difference between the virtual cluster name and Listener In clustering you specify DNS name/IP address of cluster that is then used by all applications. In case of failover, the same DNS name/IP address will point to the appropriate database server.

In Always on Availability Groups, there is concept of Listener which to my understanding does the same as above, so do we really need a Listener when the Failover clustering already handles this concept (IP address) of failover?
do we really need a Listener when the Failover clustering already handles this concept (IP address) of failover?


A SQL Server Failover Cluster Instance (FCI) will always have a "Network name resource" for clients to connect to the active node.  

But with AlwaysOn Availability Groups it is optional, and created through SQL Server.  If you don't create an AG Listener, the Windows cluster will not have any IP address or hostname that moves along with the AG.

In any case an AG Listener is a Windows Server Failover Clustering "Network name resource", and so is confined to a single Cluster.  If you have a Distributed Availability Group which spans multiple Clusters, or a Read-Scale Availability Group which has no cluster, then you can't have an AG Listener.  (Although with a Distributed AG each participating AG can have its own listener).