Howdy… here on my local LAN, I have a Windows Server 2k8 box with SQL Server 2k8 installed. I can connect to the database engine using the SSMS tool on the server, but attempting to connect to the database engine from a remote machine (also on the same LAN), the connection fails with the usual generic message about not being able to contact the server.
Before you offer the ‘usual’ solutions, please let me say that I have already verified the instance name, verified that the instance is configured to allow remote connections, verified that the SQL Browser service is running, and verified that neither the Windows Firewall on the server nor on the client is getting in the way (tested with both completely disabled). I’ve even attempted to connect via the servers IP address on the LAN rather than it’s Windows hostname. 🙂
Does anyone know of any ‘uncommon’ reasons (or even common ones that I failed to mention here) why I would be unable to connect to the database engine from a remote machine?
Thanks.
In SQL Server Configuration Manager in Network Configuration-> Protocols enable TCP/IP or other protocols that you need. The default is: only Shared Memory.