• Article

Connecting to the Database Engine from Another Computer

Now that you have configured the Database Engine to listen on a fixed port, and have opened that port in the firewall, you can connect to SQL Server from another computer.

When the SQL Server Browser service is running on the server computer, and when the firewall has opened UDP port 1434, the connection can be made by using the computer name and instance name. To enhance security, our example does not use the SQL Server Browser service.

To connect to the Database Engine from another computer

  1. On a second computer that contains the SQL Server client tools, log in with an account authorized to connect to SQL Server, and open Management Studio.

  2. In the Connect to Server dialog box, confirm Database Engine in the Server type box.

  3. In the Server name box, type tcp: to specify the protocol, followed by the computer name, a comma, and the port number. To connect to the default instance, the port 1433 is implied and can be omitted; therefore, type tcp:<computer_name>. In our example for a named instance, type tcp:<computer_name>,49172.

  4. In the Authentication box, confirm Window Authentication, and then click Connect.