Connection Issues

Owned by Paul Hitchcock
Last updated: Feb 04, 2020
1 min read

Problem

When you have network connection issues between the client software and the SQL server you may receive one of the following errors. This can be due to a misconfiguration or sometimes because a server or other network equipment is in the process of rebooting. It can also occur if the server is busy and does not respond in a timely manner.

A transport-level error has occurred when receiving results from the server.

A network-related or instance-specific error occurred while establishing a connection to SQL Server. The server was not found or was not accessible. Verify that the instance name is correct and that SQL Server is configured to allow remote connections.

Connection Timeout Expired.

Solution

These errors indicate that server cannot be reached. Verify the following items and try your connection again.

  1. Verify that your Server and Database names are accurate. These are unique for your network.

  2. Verify the PC that hosts the SQL Server instance is running and that the SQL Server instance is running as well.

  3. Verify the PC that hosts the SQL Server is accepting network connections and has there is no firewall blocking traffic to the instance.

  4. If using PC names in the server address, verify that DNS on the network is resolving the address for the server correctly.