October 26, 2011 at 9:50 am
This isn't a question, but a rant I wanted to make where people will understand what I'm talking about.
When performing a certain function in an application, we got the "Error 40 SQL Server does not exist or is not configured for remote access" error. As we know, this means the server we're trying to connect to is down, behind a firewall, SQL Browser is not running, or other other network connectivity issue exist. This didn't any sense to us because if any of those things were true, we shouldn't have been able to launch this application at all! Not to mention the fact that we could remotely connect to the DB through Enterprise Manager and other client applications that use the DB functioned just fine.
After several hours and working with the Vendor tech support, the problem was traced to a table which contains SQL connection data for an optional feature which had been installed on the system but had been removed. Apperently, when the feature removal process runs, instead of setting the the SQLserver and database fields to NULL, it sets them to 'NULL'. That's right - it writes the letters N-U-L-L into the field. The application then looks on the network for a SQL Server called "NULL" and throws the error. When troubleshooting, this is not immediately apparent from a SELECT * FROM because it looks just the same in the query results. Setting these fields to a real NULL resolved the issue.
Maybe it needs to be illegal to have developers work shifts longer than 10 hours. It also may have been helpful if the Microsoft error included the name of the server its trying to connect to.
October 26, 2011 at 10:02 am
Post your issue on connect. It'll surely be looked at.
October 26, 2011 at 10:11 am
Sounds very annoying..
As for telling the real vs fake nulls apart. The 'Real' null values should have a slight yellowish background to the gird cell when viewing the results in SSMS. Though this may depend on system settings or something.
October 26, 2011 at 10:14 am
steveb. (10/26/2011)
Sounds very annoying..As for telling the real vs fake nulls apart. The 'Real' null values should have a slight yellowish background to the gird cell when viewing the results in SSMS. Though this may depend on system settings or something.
Agreed but that's like the 50th step in the debug process.
This should really be reported as a bug to the ms folks.
October 26, 2011 at 10:15 am
Wait, did you uninstall a MS feature or something from the vendor??
That changes who I'm sending the bug too!
P.S.
EM OR SSMS?
October 26, 2011 at 10:32 am
Ninja's_RGR'us (10/26/2011)
This should really be reported as a bug to the ms folks.
It's not MS's fault that a vendor app looks into a database table for connection data and blindly tries to connect to a server called 'NULL'
Connect item for 'Server does not exist' error to have server name in would be a good idea. That's caught me a few times when vendor apps have hardcoded connection strings (and once with a play app that I wrote)
Gail Shaw
Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server, MVP, M.Sc (Comp Sci)
SQL In The Wild: Discussions on DB performance with occasional diversions into recoverability
October 26, 2011 at 10:36 am
Ninja's_RGR'us (10/26/2011)
Wait, did you uninstall a MS feature or something from the vendor??That changes who I'm sending the bug too!
P.S.
EM OR SSMS?
October 26, 2011 at 10:48 am
The unistalled feature is in the vendor's software and the connection data is in a table in the vendor's database.
October 26, 2011 at 10:52 am
As Gail said then, good idea to change that error message. And then bill the vendor for your time ;-).
October 26, 2011 at 2:09 pm
The error message was the standard Microsoft message that I believe comes from the local SQL Client when a requested SQL Server cannot be located on the network. It not really a bug, but it would be a useful feature enhancement if the SQL instance it failed to connect to was displayed in the popup and the Event Viewer message.
The bug is in the vendor software, for writing "NULL" when it should be making a null by removing the value.
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