Question

I have an SQL 2008 server running three instances. Each instance is assigned a unique IP address and listens on port 1433. Only TCPIP is enabled.

All of my ASP.Net applications connect successfully using the IP address, with a connection string similar to:

User ID=SQLUser;Password=userpass;Database=TestDB;Data Source=sqlserver

My ASP applications will only connect to the default instance; I am getting this error whenever I try to connect to another instance:

Microsoft OLE DB Provider for ODBC Drivers error '80004005' <br />
[Microsoft][ODBC SQL Server Driver][DBNETLIB]Invalid connection.

The ASP connection strings are like this:

driver={SQL Server};server=sqlserver;uid=SqlUser; pwd=userpass; database=TestDB

I turned off Windows Firewall on both the IIS and SQL Server for now. There’s not any other firewalls between the SQL Server and the IIS server. SQL Browser is running on the SQL Server. I tried modifying the ASP connection strings to include the instance name, like:

driver={SQL Server};server=sqlserver/InstanceName;uid=SqlUser;pwd=userpass;database=TestDB

but I get the same error.

Is there any way to connect to a named instance from ASP?

Answer 1

Write the server name like so:

server=sqlserver\InstanceName

Also, check the port number as it might not be on 1433.

Related SO question:

• SQL Server 2005 Named Instance port problem