HOW TO SOLVE DATAIR MSDE/SQL CONNECTION PROBLEMS

Transcription

1 HOW TO SOLVE DATAIR MSDE/SQL CONNECTION PROBLEMS If you are unable to connect a workstation to the DATAIR Instance of SQL Server, try the following if the MSDE/SQL Server is on a Windows XP PC: From the Desktop on the PC running MSDE/SQL Select START Select RUN Copy and paste the following line In the RUN dialog box and press OK Firewall.cpl In the Windows Firewall box select the General tab If Off is selected, the Windows Firewall is not the problem and you can proceed to the section titled STEP 1 (SQL Server Service Manager) If On is selected, make sure Don't allow exceptions is unchecked and proceed.

2 In the Windows Firewall box select the Exceptions tab Click the Add Program button

3 Click the Browse button and navigate to the DATAIR instance of SQL (it is usually in the following folder, C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL$DATAIR\Binn): Select the file Sqlserver.exe and click OPEN On the Exceptions tab under Programs and Services check the box for sqlservr.exe and click the OK button Now try to connect to MSDE/SQL Server from the workstation in the Windows Pension System. If you still have problems connecting proceed to next step.

4 If you are still unable to connect a workstation to the DATAIR Instance of SQL Server, try the following steps. STEP 1 (SQL Server Service Manager) On the server where MSDE/SQL is installed, open the SQL Server Service Manager by doubleclicking on the icon in the System Tray (it's the icon that resembles a tower PC). In the drop down box for the Server, select the DATAIR Instance (it is in the format of ServerName\DATAIR). In the Services box select SQL Server. You should now see the DATAIR Instance in the server box and SQL Server in the Services box. The service is running if you see a Green Arrow in a circle. if you see a Red Arrow in a circle then the service is not running and you will need to click the Start/Continue button to start the service. Also make sure that the Autostart service when OS starts is also checked. If you had to start the service, then try connecting to SQL from the PC again. If you did not have to start the service or if you still cannot connect then proceed to the next procedure.

5 STEP 2 (Configuring the SQL Server Network Utility) On the MSDE/SQL Server check to see if the necessary protocols are enabled for SQL Server. In "My Computer", navigate to the following directory: C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\80\Tools\Binn In this directory run the program : SVRNETCN.exe This will bring up the SQL Server Network Utility Under Enabled protocols on the right you should see the following items listed: Named Pipes TCP/IP If either of these items is not appearing under Enabled protocols, highlight them on the left and click "Enable". If you had to enable any protocols then try connecting from the PC once again. If the protocols were enabled or the PC is still failing to connect then proceed to the next step.

6 STEP 3 (Configuring the SQL Server Client Network Utility) This step has to be performed at the PC that is having the problem connecting to the MSDE/SQL Server. From the Desktop select START Select RUN In the Run dialog box enter the following line and hit OK: cliconfg This will open the client SQL utility. Click the General tab. Under Enabled protocols on the right you should see the following items listed: Named Pipes TCP/IP If either of these items is not appearing under Enabled protocols, highlight them on the left and

7 click "Enable". If you had to enable any protocols then try connecting from the PC once again. If the protocols were enabled or the PC is still failing to connect then proceed to the next step. STEP 4 (Creating an Alias) In this step you will need information first from the server and then use that information at the PC. We are going to set up an alias to the server and for this we'll need the IP address of the server and the port number it is using. You can find this in a document on the server. On the server open this document by selecting START and then RUN. In the RUN dialog box copy and paste the following line and hit ENTER: C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL$DATAIR\LOG\ERRORLOG This will bring up the ERRORLOG file in Notepad. In the ERROLOG file there are several lines, but the important ones at this time look like this: :35:30.23 server SQL server listening on : :35:30.23 server SQL server listening on : :35:30.29 server SQL server listening on TCP, Shared Memory, Named Pipes :35:30.29 server SQL Server is ready for client connections Copy down the IP address from the first line (in this case: without the colon) After the colon is the port - (in this example: 1556) - write this down and go back to the problem PC.

8 From the Desktop of the PC select START Select RUN In the Run dialog box enter the following line and hit OK: cliconfg This will once again open the client SQL utility. Click the "Alias" tab.

9 This will bring up the Add Network Library Configuration box. Click "TCP/IP on the Left. In the Server alias box write in the name to use as your Alias - DATAIR is a good choice. Overwrite the contents in the "Server Name" box with the IP address from Above. Uncheck the "Dynamically determine port" box Type in the port number you obtained from your server. Click OK to save it.

10 Now, there are two options available for using this alias: Option 1 You can simply use the database connection utility. Open the Windows Pension System on the PC with the connection problem. Select FILE Select Open Database This will open the Select Database dialog box. Click on the three periods in the box on the Main Database/SL Server/Server-Database line. This will open the DATAIR SQL Database Manager dialog box. Select the Connect to an existing database option and click OK. In the listing of servers choose the server that matches the alias name you entered above.

11 Option 2. Edit the DATAIR.INI file From the Desktop select START Select RUN In the RUN dialog box copy the following line and hit OK %systemroot%\datair.ini" That will open the DATAIR.INI file with notepad. Scroll down until you find or search for the [PEWIN] section: Once there scroll down further until you see the 2 lines below. MSDEDB=DATAIR_DATAIR MSDEServer=Server_Name\datair Change the line that reads : MSDEServer=Server_Name\datair to read: MSDEServer=AliasName replacing AliasName with the alias you used above. Find the line: MSDE=0 and make sure it reads: MSDE=1 That tells Datair programs to use SQL Server instead of Access databases. Save the file in notepad and try to reconnect to the server.