Database access through a network

englishman69

Hello,
I have set up my laptop with IIS and PHP 5.0. The laptop is connected to a domain network which also contains a SQL server.

I have the internal IP for the SQL server and know it to be accurate, but all of the various attempts I have made to connect to the server with a simple PHP script have failed resulting in:

Warning: mssql_connect() [function.mssql-connect]: Unable to connect to server: 10.4.16.198 in c:\Inetpub\wwwroot\connect.php on line 3

the connect script is:

$conn = mssql_connect("##.#.##.###", "username", "password");
mssql_select_db('ILS', $conn);

Any ideas?

kkobashi

$conn = mssql_connect("##.#.##.###", "username", "password")

In the statement above, the first argument doesn't take an IP address. See the documentation on this. Instead, it takes a name.

"The servername argument has to be a valid servername that is defined in the 'interfaces' file."

More here:
http://us4.php.net/function.mssql-connect

englishman69

On the contrary - this very same connection script used to work while residing on another development server. That said, using the server name may well actually get me somewhere since my setup has changed.

For additional clarification - I am connecting my laptop (which has IIS 5.0 and PHP 5.0 installed and working wonderfully) to a large network domain and am attempting to access a SQL server on a different domain but the same internal network. Access to this SQL server is limited to internal network traffic (which should allow my system to connect while plugged in to the network!)

I will try changing the IP to a server name, and will let you know if that works on Monday.

englishman69

No Dice - still not connecting 🙁

I have tried the following as the db name:

servername
domain/servername
IP
IP😛ort#

and none of them has worked 😕

Any more suggestions?

liquorvicar

do you have access to your remote SQL server? is there a firewall on either the local or remote machines blocking you?

englishman69

I do not have access to the SQL server unfortunately - I have the IP, server name and login information but not direct access. I do not know about there being a firewall on the machine that would be blocking me, but I believe that there is not because I was able (when I had the software installed) to access the SQL server with Enterprise manager (read only access).

I have a feeling this may have something to do with the fact that I am trying to run a PHP file on localhost (which the program believes is 127.0.0.1) and access the SQL server with a network-local IP (in the 10.x region). Do I have to set some kind of gateway for the program to operate through?

I know this is a very limited setup, but I thank you all for helping me muddle through this!

englishman69

Can anyone help me with this problem? Is it possible to route a connection to a SQL server on a different domain? if so, how?

unreal128

What kind of SQL server are you running and on what platform? Also, is the router for your internal network running NAT? If it is using NAT, it might be possible that the packets are going out but no awk'nowledgments are being sent back. If this is so, you will want to assign the SQL port service on the router to go to your PHP/HTTP box exclusively.

Another thing that I do is invoke the SQL command prompt and try to connect to the remote host manually. This gives alot more error information and takes the guesswork out of reading the post-processed PHP results.

Post the error information you are getting too.

englishman69

I will have to check about the platform for the SQL server, but as for the router, is there some way I can check at my end? There is no chance of my pointing the router at my PHP box...

How would I go about running the SQL command line to connect remotely?? If necessary I can install a dummy copy of SQL server on this machine, but it will not have the data I am after... but it may be able to provide the prompt you are talking about...

I have posted what little error information I am getting from the PHP page in my first post, but for reference:

Warning: mssql_connect() [function.mssql-connect]: Unable to connect to server: ##.#.##.### in c:\Inetpub\wwwroot\connect.php on line 3

where line 3 is:
$conn = mssql_connect("##.#.##.###", "username", "password");

unreal128

If you can, try to load enterprise manager back on there to see if you can connect to the SQL server. I think you also need to specify the port number. Since I am assuming you are running this on an NT box, you will need to state as...

mssql_connect("<IP>,<port>","$sqluser","$sqlpw")

Here is a decent resource on the function too.
http://www.php.net/function.mssql-connect

englishman69

Hi unreal128, I was originally trying the IP address for the server, then I tried the IP with the port #, but to no avail. I will be installing Ent. Mgr shortly (have to get hold of my disk first!) and will try connecting through that, I have a feeling I will be able to - is there something in there I should be looking for??

unreal128

If enterprise can connect but PHP can't, it could be a configuration issue with the PHP server on your laptop. If neither can connect, I would make sure to disable your firewall and see if you can telnet to the IP and port to see if it automatically refuses connection.