How do I debug ‘Failed to connect to database’?

The information in this article applies to:

Article ID: KBID002855

Query keywords: database

The ‘Failed to connect to database’ is generally caused by the following:

A firewall is preventing the connection to the SQL Server.

If an application firewall is being used check that it is not blocking EventsManager from making outgoing connections to the SQL Server.
Make sure that outgoing TCP connections are allowed to SQL Server.
If a firewall is being used on the SQL Server make sure that it allows incoming connections and that the SQL Server port is not being blocked. By default this is TCP port 1433.

The specified credentials are incorrect.

Check that the username you entered exists in SQL Server and make sure that the password is correct.
For instructions on how to configure SQL Server 2005 authentication click here.
For instructions on how to configure SQL Server 2000 authentication click here.

The named instance is not correct.

If SQL Server 2005 Express edition is being used, check that the server is specified in the format COMPUTERNAME\INSTANENAME. By default this would be <COMPUTERNAME>\SQLEXPRESS.
If you don’t know what the instance name is you can run the command sqlcmd –L in command prompt to display the list of servers.