Whining will continue if it works for him. Its also very normal at this age, so you need to teach him that it doesn't work. All children at this age need to learn to self-comfort when they don't get what they want or are disappointed. They also need to learn the social skills for how to make requests. Let's face it, we all know adults who still whine and throw fits and its not pleasent.
When my kids were little and their requests were reasonable I would have model "big girl words" with a calm voice that they needed to repeat. At 17 months you give him one or maybe 2 words. At first it took a few trys, but eventually they got it. If they threw a fit, it was definately "no." When my girls were about two, my mantra was, "Big girl voice or its 'no'" and by they were three, it was "If you whine, the answer is no." They are teens now, and don't whine, however they are very charming manipulators.
Good luck, remember this is normal.