Intermittent "SQL Server does not exist or access denied."

I've seen this topic posted several times, but it seems my situation is
unique for every other case I've seen.
I have a web site that has been running for over 3 years. Recently, we've
hit a major spike in activity. Now, after a few days (sometimes less), the
site will start returning the following error:
SQL Server does not exist or access denied.
Here are my server specs:
WEB SERVER (Shuttle SK41G)
- Windows 2000 Server SP4 (IIS 5.0)
- Athlon XP 2100+
- 1GB RAM
- 80GB SATA HD (7200 RPM)
- All pages in ASP (traditional, not .NET)
- Realtek RTL8139 on-board NIC (*not* 1Gb) - used for external connection
- Zonet Gb PCI NIC - used for crossover connection to DB server
DATABASE SERVER (Dell PowerEdge SC420)
- Windows 2000 Server SP4
- MS SQL Server 2000 SP4
- Pentium 4 2.8 GHz
- 1GB RAM
- 2x 80GB SATA HD (7200 RPM), Raid 1
- Broadcom NetXtreme 5751 Gb on-board NIC
- Zonet Gb PCI NIC - used for crossover connection to web server
The two additional dedicated NICs were installed recently.
Here is a rough cycle of the problem. About a day or two after I installed
the two NICs, I started getting this error. But it wasn't intermittent in
that it would fix itself after a while -- once it started throwing the
error, it would fairly consistently throw it, only allowing a connection on
rare occasions. The only fix was to reboot the server. After rebooting,
everything seems find for a day or two, then it starts back up, another
reboot... repeat.
I have tested for connection issues between the two NICs, and pinging is
always successful. I have even completely ruled that out by disabling the
new NICs, and going back to the original shared connection, and even on that
connection it will start throwing the errors. I have an alias configured
using TCP/IP, but I have tried both using the alias and not using it (having
the IP configured directly in my connection string), and the results are the
same. I have tried using the machine name (which is different than the
alias), same results.
I read about disabling connection pooling causing this, but to my knowledge,
connection pooling is enabled.
I'm at a loss. I don't know why this is happening all of the sudden. I
thought it may be related to the new NICs, but after disabling them and
still getting the problems, that doesn't seem to be the case.
Please, any suggestions would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
JeradHi
You may want to look at other things such as DNS problems, incorrect routing
or firewall problems. Check out the logs for all of these to see if anything
corresponds to the time of your failure.
It is not clear from your post if you reboot the database server or the web
server, if the former then try restarting IIS or rebooting the web server
and see if that also cures it!
John
"Jerad Rose" <no@.spam.com> wrote in message
news:OuW4AM$AGHA.1216@.TK2MSFTNGP14.phx.gbl...
> I've seen this topic posted several times, but it seems my situation is
> unique for every other case I've seen.
> I have a web site that has been running for over 3 years. Recently, we've
> hit a major spike in activity. Now, after a few days (sometimes less),
> the site will start returning the following error:
> SQL Server does not exist or access denied.
> Here are my server specs:
> WEB SERVER (Shuttle SK41G)
> - Windows 2000 Server SP4 (IIS 5.0)
> - Athlon XP 2100+
> - 1GB RAM
> - 80GB SATA HD (7200 RPM)
> - All pages in ASP (traditional, not .NET)
> - Realtek RTL8139 on-board NIC (*not* 1Gb) - used for external connection
> - Zonet Gb PCI NIC - used for crossover connection to DB server
> DATABASE SERVER (Dell PowerEdge SC420)
> - Windows 2000 Server SP4
> - MS SQL Server 2000 SP4
> - Pentium 4 2.8 GHz
> - 1GB RAM
> - 2x 80GB SATA HD (7200 RPM), Raid 1
> - Broadcom NetXtreme 5751 Gb on-board NIC
> - Zonet Gb PCI NIC - used for crossover connection to web server
> The two additional dedicated NICs were installed recently.
> Here is a rough cycle of the problem. About a day or two after I
> installed the two NICs, I started getting this error. But it wasn't
> intermittent in that it would fix itself after a while -- once it started
> throwing the error, it would fairly consistently throw it, only allowing a
> connection on rare occasions. The only fix was to reboot the server.
> After rebooting, everything seems find for a day or two, then it starts
> back up, another reboot... repeat.
> I have tested for connection issues between the two NICs, and pinging is
> always successful. I have even completely ruled that out by disabling the
> new NICs, and going back to the original shared connection, and even on
> that connection it will start throwing the errors. I have an alias
> configured using TCP/IP, but I have tried both using the alias and not
> using it (having the IP configured directly in my connection string), and
> the results are the same. I have tried using the machine name (which is
> different than the alias), same results.
> I read about disabling connection pooling causing this, but to my
> knowledge, connection pooling is enabled.
> I'm at a loss. I don't know why this is happening all of the sudden. I
> thought it may be related to the new NICs, but after disabling them and
> still getting the problems, that doesn't seem to be the case.
> Please, any suggestions would be appreciated.
> Thanks in advance.
> Jerad
>|||Thanks for your response, John.
A few clarifcations. The database and webserver are connected to each other
directly via crossover cable, so there is no dns/firewall/routing in the
equasion. I have checked event logs on both web and database server, and
cannot see *anything* that would indicate new problems. I only see the
ongoing events that are normally there, such as SMTP routing problems
(nothing new). Also, I should have specified which server I reboot -- it is
the web server that is rebooted.
So I beleive I have ruled out most of the obvious problems. If there's any
other info you need that may help, let me know.
Thanks again.
Jerad
"John Bell" <jbellnewsposts@.hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:%23wekqiABGHA.976@.TK2MSFTNGP15.phx.gbl...
> Hi
> You may want to look at other things such as DNS problems, incorrect
> routing or firewall problems. Check out the logs for all of these to see
> if anything corresponds to the time of your failure.
> It is not clear from your post if you reboot the database server or the
> web server, if the former then try restarting IIS or rebooting the web
> server and see if that also cures it!
> John
>
> "Jerad Rose" <no@.spam.com> wrote in message
> news:OuW4AM$AGHA.1216@.TK2MSFTNGP14.phx.gbl...
>|||Hi
Can one assume that you have not installed any new software, updated
existing software or reconfigured any settings on either machine e.g
anti-virus
John
"Jerad Rose" <no@.spam.com> wrote in message
news:euHnTQBBGHA.4092@.TK2MSFTNGP09.phx.gbl...
> Thanks for your response, John.
> A few clarifcations. The database and webserver are connected to each
> other directly via crossover cable, so there is no dns/firewall/routing in
> the equasion. I have checked event logs on both web and database server,
> and cannot see *anything* that would indicate new problems. I only see
> the ongoing events that are normally there, such as SMTP routing problems
> (nothing new). Also, I should have specified which server I reboot -- it
> is the web server that is rebooted.
> So I beleive I have ruled out most of the obvious problems. If there's
> any other info you need that may help, let me know.
> Thanks again.
> Jerad
> "John Bell" <jbellnewsposts@.hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:%23wekqiABGHA.976@.TK2MSFTNGP15.phx.gbl...
>|||I have Windows auto-updates turned on, and it updates once a week, so
whatever has been installed there recently. Also, to do some network
monitoring, I have intalled two different monitoring apps (DUMeter and
Bandwidth Monitor Pro) -- maybe those are causing the disruption? I can try
turning those off once I start seeing problem again, but I wouldn't think
those would be my culprit. I haven't done anything else though -- no
configuration changes (at least, outside of potential changes from the
mentioned software) and no antivirus software has been installed.
Thanks again.
Jerad
"John Bell" <jbellnewsposts@.hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:uUazFVBBGHA.1584@.TK2MSFTNGP10.phx.gbl...
> Hi
> Can one assume that you have not installed any new software, updated
> existing software or reconfigured any settings on either machine e.g
> anti-virus
> John
> "Jerad Rose" <no@.spam.com> wrote in message
> news:euHnTQBBGHA.4092@.TK2MSFTNGP09.phx.gbl...
>|||Hi
This is not necessarily a problem with the web server and SQL Server it
could be that access is denied because of authentication problems. Try using
profiler to monitor logon attempts.
Check out:
http://support.microsoft.com/defaul...kb;en-us;328306
http://support.microsoft.com/defaul...kb;en-us;827422
http://support.microsoft.com/defaul...kb;en-us;821498
John
"Jerad Rose" <no@.spam.com> wrote in message
news:%233gceCCBGHA.1032@.TK2MSFTNGP11.phx.gbl...
>I have Windows auto-updates turned on, and it updates once a week, so
>whatever has been installed there recently. Also, to do some network
>monitoring, I have intalled two different monitoring apps (DUMeter and
>Bandwidth Monitor Pro) -- maybe those are causing the disruption? I can
>try turning those off once I start seeing problem again, but I wouldn't
>think those would be my culprit. I haven't done anything else though -- no
>configuration changes (at least, outside of potential changes from the
>mentioned software) and no antivirus software has been installed.
> Thanks again.
> Jerad
> "John Bell" <jbellnewsposts@.hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:uUazFVBBGHA.1584@.TK2MSFTNGP10.phx.gbl...
>