INF: Procedure for Testing Named Pipes

  - Microsoft SQL Server version 4.2 for OS/2

SUMMARY

When a workstation client application has problems connecting to SQL Server, the question first asked is, "How do I determine if this is a problem with my network software, or if this is a problem with SQL Server?" The following instructions explain how to test the network and local named pipes to help isolate network software problems.

MORE INFORMATION

Testing Network Named Pipes

There are two utilities shipped with SQL Server designed to help test network named pipes. The MAKEPIPE.EXE utility is installed during setup of the SQL Server server software. The READPIPE.EXE utility is installed during setup of both DOS and OS/2 workstations.

Used together, these utilities test the integrity of the network named pipe services. To use these utilities, perform the following steps:

1. Go to the SQL Server database server, and type makepipe at an OS/2 command-line prompt. The Makepipe program will return:

         Making PIPE:\pipe\abc
   

         read to write delay (seconds):0
   

         Waiting for Client to Connect...
   

2. Go to the DOS or OS/2 workstation and type

         readpipe /Sservername /Dstring
   

   where servername is the network name of the SQL Server on which Makepipe was just run, and string is a test character string. This string must be enclosed in quotation marks if it contains spaces. Note that there are no spaces between /S and the server name, and no spaces between /D and the string. For example, to connect to a SQL Server named "data", type either of the following:

         readpipe /Sdata /Dhello
   

         readpipe /Sdata /D"hello there"
   

3. If a network named pipe connection can be established, the workstation returns

         SvrName:\\data
         PIPE   :\\data\pipe\abc
         DATA   :hello
   
         Data Sent: 1 : hello
         Data Read: 1 : hello
   
      and the SQL Server returns:
   
         Waiting for client to send... 1
   
         Data Read:
         hello
   
         Waiting for client to send... 2
   
         Pipe closed
   
         Waiting for Client to Connect...
   
   

If the results are different from step 3 above, the network named pipe services are not secure. Clients will not be able to connect to SQL Server until named pipes are available. In addition, these utilities merely attempt to open and use a named pipe. They do not stress this named pipe connection. Thus, although these tests may succeed, the network connection may break under a heavy load.

Testing Local Named Pipes

One last test is to connect to the SQL Server on the OS/2 server machine using local OS/2 pipes. This can be done by using a null (or blank) server name. For example, the following will make a local ISQL connection to the SQL Server when run at an OS/2 command-line prompt on the database server machine:

   isql /S /Ulogin /Ppassword