SQL Server - Alias not working on some machines

Asked By Tim

07-Mar-08 10:22 AM

SQL 2005 SP2 on Windows Server 2003 SP2
SQL 2000 SP4 on Windows Server 2003 SP2, with SQL 2005 Native Client installed
Some of the servers running SQL 2000 are using a 64-bit OS, some are usiing
32-bit.  All use 32-bit SQL 2000.

Trying to create an Alias on a SQL 2000 machine to point to a named instance
on a SQL 2005 machine through TCP/IP (for use in replication).

When the alias is created on those SQL 2000 servers running a 32-bit OS, it
works.

When the alias is created on those SQL 2000 servers running a 64-bit OS, it
doesn't.

Instead, when I try to test using isql, I get:
DB-Library: Unable to connect: SQL Server is unavailable or does not exist.
Una
ble to connect: SQL Server does not exist or network access denied.
Net-Library error 53: ConnectionOpen (Connect()).

Any ideas?

Thanks,
Tim C

07-Mar-08 05:22 PM

There seems to be a subtle incompatibility issue.  We have started moving our
SQL 2000 servers to 32-bit OS's on virtual machines to avoid the issue.

But if anyone knows of a simpler fix we could implement, I would love to
hear it.

Thanks,
Tim C

09-Mar-08 04:29 AM

I recently had a discussion in .tools about this. Paul O'kasick was nice enough to share his
findings. Aparently there's both a 32 and a 64 bit version of cliconfg.exe and these modify
different registry keys. Here's a quote from Paul most recent reply:

version of cliconfg.exe (C:\WINDOWS\SysWOW64\cliconfg.exe). As soon as I
created the alias with that version, the application started working. I
removed the alias created with the 32 bit version.

Each version maintains a separate list of aliases. The registry key for the
32 bit vs. 64 bit is
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MSSQLServer\Client\ConnectTo &
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\MSSQLServer\Client\ConnectTo,
respectively."

So, my suggestion is that you try to create the alias with both 32 and 64 bit version of
cliconfg.exe to see which it is that is required in your particular case (probably depends on
whether the client app is 32 or 64 bit - meguess).

--
Tibor Karaszi, SQL Server MVP
http://www.karaszi.com/sqlserver/default.asp
http://sqlblog.com/blogs/tibor_karaszi