T
Tom van Stiphout
We bought 4 new Dell Precision computers for our software developers, with
Windows XP SP1 pre-installed. I then installed all standard development
software on those machines, the developers copied over their files and
settings, and we took them into production last week.
Since that time, they have not been able to connect to SQL Servers on the
Internet, e.g. at an ISP or a client. The error message is a familiar one:
"Specified SQL server not found. ConnectionOpen(Connect())". Their old
machines (which we still have) can connect just fine. Also, the program
"Remote Administrator" (www.radmin.com) no longer works. Again the old
machines still work fine. We also have a test machine on the network with XP
set up a while back, and it connects just fine. Connecting with Remote
Desktop works fine. Also the machines can use HTTP, FTP, HTTPS just fine.
One speculation was that XP's firewall was intervening. I tried to follow
the XP help file on the topic of "To enable or disable Internet Connection
Firewall", but in step 3 it says "On the Advanced tab.", and I don't have
such tab! I'm logged on as domain administrator. What gives?
I did check that TCP/IP filtering has "Permit All" set across the board.
The user is a member of the local Administrators group.
As a test I set the security levels for all zones in Internet Explorer to
the minimum.
I found in Google that some people have problems with XP SP2 Beta, but we
don't have that installed.
It's not our hardware firewall blocking traffic; otherwise Win2000 and the
one WinXP test machine would not be able to connect either.
Our PDC is a Windows 2003 Small Business Server. I saw nothing special in
its Event Viewer. One speculation is that the ever so user-friendly ISA
server is intervening. How can I test that?
I also found a Microsoft KB article (which I can't locate now) with many
reasons for the above error, but nothing seems to apply.
Any thoughts?
-Tom.
P.S. If you're not very familiar with connecting to a remote SQL Server,
here are the steps.
1: In this step you create a virtual server with connection information, to
be used in the next step. Run C:\WINNT\system32\cliconfg.exe (SQL Server
client network utility), select the Alias tab, click Add. Select TCP/IP for
the Network library, enter any Server Alias (e.g. REMOTE_TEST_SERVER), and
the IP address or fqdn of the server. If you know the server is at the
standard port of 1433, you can enter it, or otherwise keep "Dynamically
determine port" selected.
2a: In this step you configure your tool to connect to the virual server.
Run SQL Server Enterprise Manager, expand the tree to a SQL Server group,
right-click to add a new SQL Server registration. For "Server", enter your
virtual server name (REMOTE_TEST_SERVER in our example), typically you will
select "Use SQL Server authentication", and enter your username and password
for that server.
2b: You can also use Microsoft Access 2000 and above to connect to the SQL
Server. Start Access and select File / New / Project (Existing Database).
For "Server", enter your virtual server name (REMOTE_TEST_SERVER in our
example), typically you will select "Use SQL Server authentication", and
enter your username and password for that server. Also enter the name of the
database on the server.
Windows XP SP1 pre-installed. I then installed all standard development
software on those machines, the developers copied over their files and
settings, and we took them into production last week.
Since that time, they have not been able to connect to SQL Servers on the
Internet, e.g. at an ISP or a client. The error message is a familiar one:
"Specified SQL server not found. ConnectionOpen(Connect())". Their old
machines (which we still have) can connect just fine. Also, the program
"Remote Administrator" (www.radmin.com) no longer works. Again the old
machines still work fine. We also have a test machine on the network with XP
set up a while back, and it connects just fine. Connecting with Remote
Desktop works fine. Also the machines can use HTTP, FTP, HTTPS just fine.
One speculation was that XP's firewall was intervening. I tried to follow
the XP help file on the topic of "To enable or disable Internet Connection
Firewall", but in step 3 it says "On the Advanced tab.", and I don't have
such tab! I'm logged on as domain administrator. What gives?
I did check that TCP/IP filtering has "Permit All" set across the board.
The user is a member of the local Administrators group.
As a test I set the security levels for all zones in Internet Explorer to
the minimum.
I found in Google that some people have problems with XP SP2 Beta, but we
don't have that installed.
It's not our hardware firewall blocking traffic; otherwise Win2000 and the
one WinXP test machine would not be able to connect either.
Our PDC is a Windows 2003 Small Business Server. I saw nothing special in
its Event Viewer. One speculation is that the ever so user-friendly ISA
server is intervening. How can I test that?
I also found a Microsoft KB article (which I can't locate now) with many
reasons for the above error, but nothing seems to apply.
Any thoughts?
-Tom.
P.S. If you're not very familiar with connecting to a remote SQL Server,
here are the steps.
1: In this step you create a virtual server with connection information, to
be used in the next step. Run C:\WINNT\system32\cliconfg.exe (SQL Server
client network utility), select the Alias tab, click Add. Select TCP/IP for
the Network library, enter any Server Alias (e.g. REMOTE_TEST_SERVER), and
the IP address or fqdn of the server. If you know the server is at the
standard port of 1433, you can enter it, or otherwise keep "Dynamically
determine port" selected.
2a: In this step you configure your tool to connect to the virual server.
Run SQL Server Enterprise Manager, expand the tree to a SQL Server group,
right-click to add a new SQL Server registration. For "Server", enter your
virtual server name (REMOTE_TEST_SERVER in our example), typically you will
select "Use SQL Server authentication", and enter your username and password
for that server.
2b: You can also use Microsoft Access 2000 and above to connect to the SQL
Server. Start Access and select File / New / Project (Existing Database).
For "Server", enter your virtual server name (REMOTE_TEST_SERVER in our
example), typically you will select "Use SQL Server authentication", and
enter your username and password for that server. Also enter the name of the
database on the server.