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SQL Server Management Studio - port scanning

  • May 9, 2007 at 10:15 am

    #172362

    This was a new one to me...

    Third week on the job at a new employer, I get a call from the corporate "network police" saying they were picking up "way too much activity" in the form of port scanning from my PC.    The only thing I was using was SSMS, with about 75 SQL Servers (mostly 2000, and a handful of 2005) registered.  I argued that the tool is working as-designed in order to provide me up/down status information for each SQL instance in the enterprise, but they seem to think this kind of activity is unusual.  Now, I'm not talking connections here via Object Explorer - simply just registrations in Registered Servers!  Should be pretty light-weight, eh?

    I've been using SSMS for over a year now, and at my former employer there were about 10 of us on the system with SSMS open (with ~100 SQL instances registered per user).  Never heard a peep out of the network guys there.  I'm trying to work with the network guys here at the new company to avoid starting things off on the wrong foot...   I remember in SQL 2000 Enterprise Manager (which I totally don't use anymore unless I have to) there is a way to register the servers in a mode where it doesn't actually keep an eye on the system - the "Display SQL Server state in console" check-box.  Unfortunately, not seeing anything like this as a registration option in SSMS.  Am I missing something?  Or... are there any registry hacks that can help me out in this capacity?  Any patches from Microsoft that I may have missed?

    Any input or experiences with something like this would be greatly appreciated!

  • May 9, 2007 at 11:52 am

    #705334

    Your issue rings a bell, but cannot remember exactly the solution. Check your SQL Server Configuration Manager \ Network configuration and there the "VIA Properties" Virtual Interface Adapter protocol. I think you need to assign an specific port to each instance. Please post back when solution is found, for the rest of us.

    Thanks

  • May 10, 2007 at 11:36 am

    #705593

    So far no breakthroughs...  I checked out the VIA setup, but it's deactivated across the board in our environment.  TCP/IP only on most servers, and a couple with Named Pipes active just because it's a 3rd party packaged software and the vendor requires it.  All TCP/IP settings are at the default 1433 port.  I thought I found something with difficulty connecting to SQL2000 instances on Windows 2000 servers, but it turned out not to be the issue.  At this point I'm going to open a case with Microsoft and see if they can provide any clues.

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