Sharepoint Database Access within a domain

Question

I have two servers in a domain. Web Server & Database Server. I have a number of standard .net websites accessing the SQL Server with no problems, using SQL Username/password combos for each database.

Sharepoint configures the access as Integrated Security=True

When I ran the Config wizard, I 'briefly' saw the Admin top-site. After a short browse around, I lost the connection. [I touched/changed nothing!!!!]

I now get "Cannot connect to the configuration database."

It seems obvious that the problem is one of access permissions to the database but I can't see it.

The IIS Website uses the Sharepoint AppPool which in turn uses a Domain Account that successfully created the SharePoint_Config Database and & Content databases. They obviously continue to use that account.

The Event Viewer shows multiple instances of: "Unable to connect to the database SharePoint_Config on [Database Computer]. Check the database connection information and make sure that the database server is running.."

Any suggestions?

Answer 1

This occurs when:

• The SQL database or service is not online/running.
• Internet Information Services (IIS) is configured to run in IIS 5.0 isolation mode.
• The account that is used by application pool does not have the required permissions to the SQL Server database.
• Network connectivity has been lost between the Windows SharePoint Services server and the Microsoft SQL Server server.

Check all of those and if all of that is set, check your sql server. Make sure your config database isnt marked as 'suspect' or that something else isnt off. Try resetting your SQL service.

I've also had this happen when an application pool account was changed. Even if the application pool is online, sometimes recycling it does the trick. Alternatively, confirm the application pool account:

1. Open Server Manager.
2. Click on Roles.
3. Choose Web Server (IIS)
4. Choole IIS.
5. Open server in the Connections panel.
6. Choose Application Pools.
7. For every item in Application Pools, click on it once, and then choose Advanced Settings.
8. Under Process Model, Identity, change it, choose "Custom Account".
9. Enter an account and password for an account with a lot of permissions. I used the Sysadmin.
10. Restart the Web Server.

Also, 32 or 64 bit? Make sure IIS is running in the right mode, sometimes additional software installs can change things:

First, fix IIS:

\inetpub\AdminScripts\cscript.exe adsutil.vbs set W3SVC/AppPools/Enable32BitAppOnWin64 False

Second, reregister the .Net isapi filters:

\windows\microsoft.net\Framework64\v2.0.50727\aspnet_reg
iis.exe -i

If it is none of the above, have there been any DNS or NETBIOS changes? That is also a common cause.

If nothing else works, simply try to reboot your server.