SQL Server 2005 setup issue

Question

I have two issues both related to (I believe) my SQL Server setup. I have installed SQL Server (the full thing) from MSDN downloads of the x64 version on my Vista 64 Home Premium box. After running into multiple issues I finally got it working. This is a new box so I ported over a database that I need to work on from another server. That also worked fine. My first issue however came when I tried to open a database in SQL Server Management Studio:

"Unable to find the requested .Net Framework Data Provider. It may not be installed. (System.Data)"

The box itself isn't new and definitely has .NET installed (version 3 I believe). I found that someone posted this as a bug but as the team (SQL Server team) could not reproduce it, they removed it. I've tried installing the recommended SP3 patch to no avail. It's only when I try to open a table for viewing the data (right-click and "Open Table"). I can even execute queries and retrieve results (from inside management studio). I'll follow pretty much any suggestion to try and get this working.

My second issue is that I cannot connect to the server. I thought I could just work around it (with queries), but I did not find that it added any ODBC connections on the box, just the drivers. Management Studio can access the DB just fine, but the machine itself doesn't appear to recognize that anything is running on it, at least on the default port (1433) and no, I do not have a named instance. When trying to manually add the server to the DSN or any datasources it cannot find the SQL server (under Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Data Sources (ODBC). Under SQL Server Management Studio it appears as a registered database server (I think this is because it connects on port 1434 from what I hear? not sure). This is my primary problem, and even if I can't open the tables (the first issue) I absolutely NEED to be able to set it up so that I can connect to it. The language source I am connecting from is ColdFusion which is set up as a stand-alone server (IIS not installed, not using it right now).

Answer 1

As for connecting to it, make sure all the services are running. SQL Server Agent in particular.

Also, check in the SQL Server 2005 Surface Area configuration for Services and Connections. Check under "Remote Connections" to see if "local and remote" connections are on. It might be set to "local only".

Answer 2

CF versions 6+ do not use the OS's ODBC connections. They use JDBC over IP to connect. You need to make sure you have allowed TCP/IP connections to the DB using the SQL Server Configuration Studio. Then, use the Data Sources page in the CF Administrator page (usually localhost:port/cfide/administrator, replacing "port" with the port you're using for the CF built-in server).

Answer 3

Why though, would it default to this and why would this be an issue with my own machine (local testing)?

SQL Server 2005 is meant to be more secure by default, so not all the protocols are opened up by default.

Sql Server Agent doesn't have anything to do with remote connections, but I seemed to recall there being an issue with doing discovery on the network if the Agent wasn't started

Maybe you're thinking of the SQL Browser with named instances.

Did you try this process? http://oakleafblog.blogspot.com/2007/03/orcas-march-ctp-on-vista-database.html

Answer 4

Yes I saw that one but I'm not using Orcas.

Does anyone have a solution for the first part of the problem? It's not life threatening, but it would be nice to solve it. Thanks so far for all the helpful answers!