Cannot Connect to Azure SQL Database in Visual Studio 2013

Question

Beyond Frustrated here.
I am trying to connect to an Azure SQL database - it has been created, has tables etc. I am trying to create a new Data Connection from within Visual Studio 2013, latest release for VS and Azure. I continue to receive the following error:
A network-related or instance-specific error occurred while establishing a connection to SQL Server. The server was not found or was not accessible. Verify that the instance name is correct and that SQL Server is configured to allow remote connections.
(provider: Named Pipes Provider, error: 40 - Could not open a connection to SQL Server) (Microsoft SQL Server, Error: 53)
I have ensured that TCP is allowed and above Named Pipes in the Configuration Manager. The associated IP address is allowed on Azure Firewall. Certificate has been added to VS etc. But still no connection. I can see the database in the Azure section in Server
Explorer, but cannot add a Data Connection. What is equally as frustrating is I have a MacBook Pro running Win 7 sitting right next to my office computer and it can access Azure fine, not problems.
If anyone has any other ideas on how I might be able to solve this I would love to hear them. Thanks in advance.
Jeff

Answer 1

Hi,
 The Error message "   A network-related or instance-specific error occurred while establishing a connection to SQL Server. The server was not found or was not accessible. Verify that the instance name is correct and that SQL Server is
configured to allow remote connections. (provider: Named Pipes Provider, error: 40 - Could not open a connection to SQL Server) (Microsoft SQL Server, Error: 53) "
The issue comes up mainly because the application is not able to connect to the server.
To resolve this issue, try the following steps (in that order):
 Make sure that TCP IP is enabled as a client protocol on the application server. For more information on how to do this, see
Configure client protocols. On application servers where you do not have SQL Server tools installed, you can check this by running cliconfg.exe (SQL Server Client Network Utility).              
 2.  Check the application’s connection string to make sure that it is correctly configured. For example, make sure that the connection string specifies the correct port (1433) and the fully qualified server name.                
Note You can follow these steps to obtain the connection string from the Azure Management Portal:                  
                      Log on to the
Azure Management Portal.                    
                      In the left navigation pane, click
SQL Databases.                    
                      Select your Azure SQL Database server.                    
                      Click
Dashboard.                    
                      On the right side, go to the
quick glance section, and then click Show connection strings.                    
Test the connectivity between the application server and the Azure SQL database by using a UDL file, ping, and telnet. For more information about how to do this, see
Azure SQL Database connectivity troubleshooting guide and
Troubleshooting SQL Server connectivity issues.                
Note As a troubleshooting step, you can also try to test the connectivity on a different client computer.                
Try increasing the connection timeout. Microsoft recommends using a connection timeout of at least 30 seconds.              
As a best practice ensure retry logic is in place. For more information about the retry logic, see
Azure SQL Database best practices to prevent request denials or connection termination.              
      If these  steps do not resolve your problem, follow the below steps to collect more data and contact support:              
   If your application is a cloud service, enable the logging. This step returns a UTC time stamp of the failure. Additionally, SQL Azure returns the tracing ID.
Microsoft Customer Support Services can use this information.                   
   For more information about how to enable the logging, see
how to enable diagnostic logging for Azure Web sites and Developing SQL Database Applications section in
Azure SQL Database Development Considerations.                
  Check out
the list of best practices for Connecting to Windows Azure SQL Database.
Regards,
Shirisha Paderu.