MS SQL Server 2012 and 2014 (Express Edition) with ODBC connection

If the master and the database are on different devices, make sure that the following conditions are fulfilled; otherwise, the database does not accept any connections from the master:

Enabling TCP/IP protocol using the Surface Area Configuration Utility

1. Go to the Surface Area Configuration Utility window.
2. Under the section Configure Surface Area for localhost select the Surface Area Configuration for Services and Connections link.
3. In the window that now appears select the Remote Connections option under SQLEXPRESS > Database Engine in the left window pane.
4. In the table on the right window pane ensure that the Local and remote connections radio button is selected, as well as the Using TCP/IP only radio button.

Enabling the TCP/IP protocol in the SQL Server Configuration Utility

1. Open the SQL Server Configuration Utility window.
2. Select the Protocols for SQLEXPRESS option under SQL Server Network Configuration in the left window pane.
3. In the right window pane ensure that the entry TCP/IP is set to status Enabled .
4. Right-click the entry to open the Properties window.
5. In the Protocol tab ensure that the Enabled entry is set to Yes .

6. Select the IP Addresses tab.

   Here you probably see several sections, one for each network connection. Normally there would be one network card and one or more loopback connections indicated by the standard address of 127.0.0.1 . You can disregard these for SQL Server Express.

7. In the section for the network card ensure that the options Active and Enabled are both set to Yes .
8. If you want to enable dynamic ports for your SQL Server Express instance, the TCP Dynamic Ports option should be set to 0. To disable this option and use a fixed port, change this value to a blank and fill in the port number of the TCP Port option.

Starting the SQL Server browser

This step is optional. It is possible to set the SQL Server instance to use a fixed IP address, but this is non-standard for named instances.

1. In the SQL Server Configuration Utility window select the SQL Server Service entry in the left window pane.
2. Right-click the entry SQL Browser in the right window pane to open the SQL Browser Properties window.
3. If it is not yet started, click the Start button in the Service Status area of the Log on tab.
4. Select the Service tab.
5. If the Start Mode option is not set to Automatic , do so now.