Firewall Settings for SQL Server

[Daniel]

We have installed SQL Server Evaluation copy on a Windows
XP Professional Workstation with SP2 installed. We also
inistalled Reporting Services on that workstation as well.

We would like to access the reports on that workstation
from a remote workstation. In this way, we would like to
know what is the best way to open the firewall ? Is it
only for us to add C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL
Server\MSSQL\Binn\sqlservr.exe in the exception list ?

Thanks

 

[Leythos]

We have installed SQL Server Evaluation copy on a Windows
XP Professional Workstation with SP2 installed. We also
inistalled Reporting Services on that workstation as well.

We would like to access the reports on that workstation
from a remote workstation. In this way, we would like to
know what is the best way to open the firewall ? Is it
only for us to add C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL
Server\MSSQL\Binn\sqlservr.exe in the exception list ?

If you want to access a SQL server remotely, the proper method is to VPN
into the server from the external location and access the SQL server
through the VPN - this limits the number of hackers that can get to your
data/system.

If you just expose the ports, your machine will be compromised and your
machine will start slamming other machines - the reason the SQL Slammer
impacted the Net so much.

If you just want to run reports, and you don't need the actual data on
your external computer, you could run VNC or other PcAnywhere type
program on the SQL computer, forward the ports needed to it, and then
access the computer as though you were sitting at it - just make sure
that you use a strong user/password for the remote connection and that
it's not the same as any of the local user/password combinations.