hello noeld,

Thanks for your reply.  I'm glad that you brought it up because I'm not really familiar with the client netweork utility, and it could be that this is where the answer to the problem lies.  But before I do anything, I just wanted to ask you somethin gin that respect.  If I have my ms sql database installed in one machine then I would gather that I need to allow it to communicate as aserver with other machines in which ms sql is not installed.  Now, the was I understand the client  network utility, it's good for other remote machines that DO have ms sql installed in them.  Please correct me if I'm wrong.  If I'm wrong then I should probably employ the client network utility and make sure it's configured properly.  The question is where? because I'm not really sure.

many thanks

Avi