Named instance, no default instance -> connection problems?

Hey,
I have the following problem with deployment of MSDE. Here's what I want
to do:
- I want to install MSDE in a named instance, even if it wasn't installed
before.
- I want to connect to the local server only, if possible with a
"generic" name, so I don't have to look up the system name
and stuff.
I can't really get this to work at all. I have connection strings that
work fine on development machines (where the default instance name is
used), using . for the server name. On the test machine, using
..\MYINSTANCE doesn't work at all. I read suggestions to use
(local)\MYINSTANCE instead of .\MYINSTANCE, but to no avail.
The funny thing is, even SYSTEMNAME\MYINSTANCE doesn't work unless there's
a default instance running on the same machine. Plus, it seems cumbersome
to have to find out the system's name for such a purpose.
Maybe I'm just seriously wrong about something... I didn't think it would
be that hard to set up a local (!, no networking enabled) database server
using the standard (!, they do say I'm to use a vendor-specific instance,
don't they?) setup procedure and connect to that.
Any ideas, please?
Oliver Sturm
omnibus ex nihilo ducendis sufficit unum
MSN oliver@.sturmnet.org Jabber sturm@.amessage.de ICQ 27142619
hi Oliver,
"Oliver Sturm" <oliver@.sturmnet.org> ha scritto nel messaggio
news:pan.2004.06.18.10.39.55.285051@.sturmnet.org.. .
> Hey,
> I have the following problem with deployment of MSDE. Here's what I want
> to do:
> - I want to install MSDE in a named instance, even if it wasn't installed
> before.
> - I want to connect to the local server only, if possible with a
> "generic" name, so I don't have to look up the system name
> and stuff.
> I can't really get this to work at all. I have connection strings that
> work fine on development machines (where the default instance name is
> used), using . for the server name. On the test machine, using
> .\MYINSTANCE doesn't work at all. I read suggestions to use
> (local)\MYINSTANCE instead of .\MYINSTANCE, but to no avail.
> The funny thing is, even SYSTEMNAME\MYINSTANCE doesn't work unless there's
> a default instance running on the same machine. Plus, it seems cumbersome
> to have to find out the system's name for such a purpose.
> Maybe I'm just seriously wrong about something... I didn't think it would
> be that hard to set up a local (!, no networking enabled) database server
> using the standard (!, they do say I'm to use a vendor-specific instance,
> don't they?) setup procedure and connect to that.
> Any ideas, please?
that's weird, becouse (local)\InstanceName shoul'd be fine..... ok, I'm
running a pc with a default instance and a named instance...
as regard the ComputerName part, remember you are trying to connect to a
service specified on the target pc...
you can always set an Alias via Client Network Utility, but this is not the
case... but building the connection string using something similar to Public
Declare Function GetComputerName Lib "kernel32" Alias "GetComputerNameA"
(ByVal lpBuffer As String, nSize As Long) As Long, appending the
"\YourInstanceName", in your preferred language, coul'd solve the problem
too...
Andrea Montanari (Microsoft MVP - SQL Server)
http://www.asql.biz/DbaMgr.shtmhttp://italy.mvps.org
DbaMgr2k ver 0.8.0 - DbaMgr ver 0.54.0
(my vb6+sql-dmo little try to provide MS MSDE 1.0 and MSDE 2000 a visual
interface)
-- remove DMO to reply
sql