Remote Connection Problems from Server, Management Studio 2008

  • Ok... I am totally lost as to where to proceed next with this problem.

    I have a new server, SQL Server 2008 Standard on Windows 2008 Standard (Service Pack 2, 64 bit) that I am migrating to from SQL Server 2005/Window 2003. No problems with the migration... until now.

    I moved my RedGate application(s) and processes over to the new server but I have been unable to connect to the remote server(s). I then checked the SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) 2008 and it also has a problem connecting to the remote servers:

    A network-related or instance-specific error occurred while establishing a connection to SQL Server. The server was not found or was not accessible. Verify that the instance name is correct and that SQL Server is configured to allow remote connections. (provider: Named Pipes Provider, error: 40 - Could not open a connection to SQL Server) (Microsoft SQL Server, Error: 53)

    Here are the things I verified:

    1) cliconfg is setup properly with the network configurations, aliases, ports, etc.

    2) I can ping the servers from the command window.

    3) I can connect via the command window (osql -SMyServerName -UMe -PMyPassword) and run queries without any problems on the server.

    4) I have a linked server setup and it runs queries on the link to the remote server without any problems within SSMS.

    5) SSMS connects to other remote servers located within the local network. Just nothing outside of the local network.

    6) My desktop copy of SSMS 2008 (Dev) connects to the remote servers without any problems.

    7) Yes, the firewall is turned off.

    Any ideas or other solutions someone may have?

    Thanks! 🙂

    Argue for your limitations, and sure enough they're yours (Richard Bach, Illusions)

  • I guess, we may not be able to connect to the servers which are not in our network. you may have to RDP into them ... This is what I do ..But no idea if there is anything we could do to connect from local mgmt studio

  • Just to see what would happen, I did try and use a remote desktop connection to the server and it worked fine! Dealing with a few other issues now too... .NET apps (work fine in 32-bit) that fail on the 64-bit system due to Microsoft.Jet.OLEDB.4.0 connection issues... but that is a WHOLE other topic of discussion! 😉

    Argue for your limitations, and sure enough they're yours (Richard Bach, Illusions)

  • Ok... found a temporary solution to the problem, but still not understanding why it is happening.... played with firewall settings (Windows Server 2008 has multiple firewalls).

    Used the ipaddress,port (for instance, 66.249.91.104,1440) instead of the alias and everything is working now (both SSMS and RedGate).

    Argue for your limitations, and sure enough they're yours (Richard Bach, Illusions)

  • This definitely took long enough to figure out. Apparently, the cliconfg settings for a Windows 7 64-bit or Windows 2008 64-bit system is located in two places:

    C:\Windows\System32\ ---- 32-bit cliconfg.exe

    C:\Windows\SysWOW64\ ---- 64-bit cliconfg.exe

    The version of cliconfg.exe that gets called by default is the 32-bit version (start\run). The version that needs to be used is the executable found in C:\Windows\SysWOW64.

    Hope this helps anyone else experiencing this problem and how this can affect applications (SSMS, RedGate, etc.)

    Argue for your limitations, and sure enough they're yours (Richard Bach, Illusions)

Viewing 5 posts - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)

You must be logged in to reply to this topic. Login to reply