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Q187708: Cannot Connect to SQL Virtual Server via Sockets in Cluster

Article: Q187708
Product(s): Microsoft Windows NT
Version(s): WINNT:4.0
Operating System(s): 
Keyword(s): kbWinNT400sp4fix
Last Modified: 09-AUG-2001

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The information in this article applies to:

- Microsoft Windows NT Server, Enterprise Edition version 4.0 
- Microsoft Windows NT Server version 4.0, Terminal Server Edition 
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SYMPTOMS
========

A SQL Server client may not be able to connect to SQL Server in a cluster
environment using the virtual server network name or IP address by means of
TCP/IP sockets. A typical client application will return the following error
message:

  Unable to Connect: SQL Server is unavailable or does not exist. General
  network error. Check your documentation.
  Net-Library error 10061: ConnectionOpen (Connect())

However, the same socket client can connect to the SQL Server using the node name
or address of the computer where SQL Server is physically running. Clients
running named pipes do not have this problem of connecting to SQL Server through
the virtual server name.

CAUSE
=====

There is a known problem with Windows NT 4.0 Enterprise Edition that may return
an incorrect IP address under certain situations when an application such as SQL
Server calls socket function gethostbyname() to retrieve the virtual server IP
address from the local node. When SQL Server is bound to this incorrect IP
address (node address), a socket client will not be able to connect to the SQL
Server through the virtual name or IP address, but can connect to it through
node name or IP address.

MORE INFORMATION
================

One way to verify whether you have run into this issue is to PING the SQL Server
virtual server name from the command prompt on the node computer where SQL
Server is currently running. If PING returns the node IP address rather than the
SQL Server virtual server IP address, then you have run into this problem. Note
that if you PING this virtual server name from a separate network client
computer, it returns the correct IP address.

RESOLUTION
==========

To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for Windows NT 4.0 or
Windows NT Server 4.0, Terminal Server Edition. For additional information,
please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

  Q152734 How to Obtain the Latest Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack


You can work around this problem by using named pipes for client connections.

STATUS
======

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in Windows NT 4.0 and Windows NT
Server 4.0, Terminal Server Edition. This problem was first corrected in Windows
NT 4.0 Service Pack 4.0 and Windows NT Server 4.0, Terminal Server Edition
Service Pack 4.


Additional query words: 4.00 ntee winsock connection refused failed machine mscs

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Keywords          : kbWinNT400sp4fix 
Technology        : kbWinNTsearch kbWinNT400search kbWinNTSsearch kbWinNTSEntSearch kbWinNTSEnt400 kbWinNTS400search kbNTTermServ400 kbNTTermServSearch
Version           : WINNT:4.0
Hardware          : ALPHA x86
Issue type        : kbbug
Solution Type     : kbfix

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