Thanks for all the good info.  The SQL server Unleashed looks good, I just wish it went beyond 2014.  I do see the High Availability for 2016.  I don't know...

From my laptop I can ping the server by ip or by hostname.  Running SS Cofnig Mgr on server I could see that Named Pipes and TCP/IP  Protocols were disabled...

Great article.

I've never used Window Server 8 or Hyper-v. I just bought a used dell 1950 server with fresh install of Windows 2008 R2. My personal PC...

Thanks, it all works great now.

I went to the Microsoft store and paid for and downloaded the sql server 2014 developer edition. Install seemed to go fine on my Windows 8.1 - in c:\windows\Program...

Thanks for the info. I will get the developers edition. Should I start with 2012 or 2014? Is 2014 being adopted yet? I'll start my new...