INF: How to Debug SQL Server Connectivity Problems Over RAS

ID: Q139061


The information in this article applies to:


SUMMARY

You can use Microsoft Remote Access Service (RAS) to connect to Microsoft SQL Server from Windows NT, Windows 95, or Windows for Workgroups clients. Because SQL Server communicates with its clients using high-level InterProcess Communication (IPC) APIs only, such as named pipes, TCP/IP sockets, and IPX/SPX sockets, the support for RAS is transparent, which means that SQL Server does not care whether this is a RAS connection as long as the RAS service supports the appropriate IPCs used by the SQL Server clients. SQL Server can run either on the same computer where the RAS server service is running or on a different computer that is connected to the RAS server through a LAN. The key to troubleshooting connectivity problems through RAS is to isolate the problems to either Windows NT/network/RAS issues or SQL Server connectivity issues.


MORE INFORMATION

Windows NT RAS supports TCP/IP, IPX/SPX, and NetBEUI LAN protocols. When you install the RAS service, you can choose to enable one or all of these protocols, which in turn provides support for IPCs including named pipes, TCP/IP sockets, and IPX/SPX. Although it is recommended that NetBEUI be enabled for named pipes communication, you can use any one of those protocols for named pipes connections to SQL Server, as long as the SQL Server computer has the same protocol installed. Depending on the clients you use, you may or may not have all of the IPCs available. If the clients are Windows NT or Windows 95, all of the IPCs above are available. For Windows 3.1 or Windows for Workgroups 3.11 clients, only the named pipes IPC is available.

Depending on the IPCs used, the troubleshooting techniques are different:

  1. Named pipes: If you are using named pipes as the IPC, you can run the easy makepipe/readpipe test. This pair of utilities comes with all versions of SQL Server. Please consult the SQL Server documentation if you need any help using these utilities.

    If the pipe test fails, it indicates this is a Windows NT/Network/RAS problem. You should note the return status of the READPIPE, and contact your primary Windows NT/Network support provider if you do not know how to diagnose the problem based on the return status.


  2. TCP/IP sockets: If you are using TCP/IP sockets through RAS, the first test you should run is the PING utility. If the PING fails from either the client or server side, it indicates a problem with Windows NT/Network/RAS, and again you should contact your primary Windows NT/Network support provider for help.

    If the PING test succeeds, this may not be a RAS specific issue. To verify, you can try connecting from a regular LAN client or from the local server through TCP/IP sockets. For more information about troubleshooting SQL Server connections via TCP/IP, see Knowledge Base article Q107647 ("INF: Connecting to SQL Server from TCP/IP Sockets Clients).


  3. IPX/SPX sockets: If your RAS client can not connect to SQL Server via IPX/SPX, check the following:



Additional query words: sql6 dialup dial-up win95 phone modem wint


Keywords          : kbnetwork SSrvLAN 
Version           : 4.21 6.0
Platform          : WINDOWS 
Issue type        : 

Last Reviewed: April 15, 1999