Can only connect to SQL Sever 2008 Express remotely afer server restart

Question

I am running SQL Server 2008 Express and can connect to it fine using port forwarding through my router, AND when I am on the same subnet.

However when I am on a different subnet, I can only connect to it right after I restart the SQL Server Agent. After the restart, I can connect to it, however if I close the connection, I have to restart the service again to connect to it remotely on a different subnet.

Why does this happen?

thanks

Answer 1

To the best of my knowledge, SQL Server 2008 Express does not come with the SQL Agent service; although the service is installed, it doesn’t work as intended and you can’t interact with it like a regular SQL Server (nor create maintenance tasks, jobs, etc.).

In any case, open the SQL Server Configuration Manager (if you have the tools installed), and go to SQL Server Network Configuration -> Protocols for and right click TCP/IP and select Properties.

On that dialog, make sure that the protocol is enabled and then check the IP Addresses tab. That’s where/how you restrict SQL Server to listen to certain IP/Subnets/Protocols/Ports/etc.