rename instance

  • Is there any way to rename the instance name 'machine\sqlexpress' to a name without the backslash? We need to point cognos to an SQL express database, but the backslash in the instance name is not supported.

  • You'd have to reinstall as the default instance, so far as I know.

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  • You can use a DNS Alias where you do not need to specify the SQL Server Name, IP or port, here is a list of the steps needed to implement:

    Note: The SQL Browser service must be running to translate the alias to the desired SQL Server/Port.

    1) Set up the DNS Alias.

    2) Determine what ports are going to be used for each SQL Server instance. Registered Ports are those from 1024 through 49151 and Dynamic and/or Private Ports are those from 49152 through 65535. The registered ports number ranges should not be used for named SQL Server instances as a future conflict is possible. Reference http://www.iana.org/assignments/port-numbers

    3) Reserve the port numbers so that no other program requests a dynamic port assigned to your SQL server. "How to reserve a range of ephemeral ports on a computer that is running Windows Server 2003 or Windows 2000 Server" http://support.microsoft.com/kb/812873/

    4) "Configuring SQL Server Named instances to use a fixed port" http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms345327(SQL.90).aspx. This will require a SQL Server restart.

    5) Map the DNS aliases to the SQL Server instance name using the SQL Server 2005/2008 Configuration Manager but with SQL Server 2000, use the SQL Server Network Utility. This utility can only be run on the server hosting the SQL Server.

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  • Hi,

    We checked TCP/IP settings in Configuration Manager and found out that TCP port for IP All was blank. Settings this to 1433 and using localhost instead of machine_name\instance_name solved the problem. However , thanks for pointing out the DSN solution (might come in handy one day 😉 )

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