Connection Failure When Setting Up Named Instances on Remote Servers

Here's an interesting thing I learned today.

We set up a named instance of SQL on our development box. The install was accomplished easily however, afterward we could only connect to the new instance NEWSQL directly from the hardware box. We could not get a connection to NEWSQL via SQL Server Management Studio. The NEWSQL instance didn't appear in SSMS through browsing for it etc. This problem persisted even though we were logged in as a system admin.

Here's is what caused the problem:

When a default instance of SQL is created on a box, the port is automatically set to static port 1433. But when named instances are created, the installation assigns the instance to dynamic ports.

In order for the instance to be "seen" and by SSMS and other applications you must go into the server box, open Adminstrative Tools, then Services.

Then click on the SQL Browser Agent and change the status to enabled. The Browser is the component that will find and track SQL instances on dynamic ports.