JDBC SqlServer connection problem

Question

Hi,
I'm trying to connect to a local Sql Server database. I started out connecting to a database on another computer on the network by using the following code:
//Set up connection to database
String driverName = "com.microsoft.jdbc.sqlserver.SQLServerDriver";
String serverName = "10.42.8.102";
String portNumber = "1433";
String mydatabase = serverName + ":" + portNumber;
String databaseName = "traffic";
String url = "jdbc:microsoft:sqlserver://" + mydatabase +";databaseName="+databaseName+";";
String username = "sa";
String password = "foobar";
// Load the JDBC driver
Class.forName(driverName);
// Create a connection to the database
connection = DriverManager.getConnection(url, username, password);
This worked fine. However, when I started trying to connect to a database on my own computer, I started having problems. The database I'm trying to connect to is listed under the node "TERRAIN\BEATTHETRAFFIC" in SqlServer's Enterprise Manager. The database name is still traffic, and the user name and password are unchanged. My new code is as follows:
String driverName = "com.microsoft.jdbc.sqlserver.SQLServerDriver";
String serverName = "localhost/TERRAIN/BEATTHETRAFFIC";
String portNumber = "1433";
String mydatabase = serverName + ":" + portNumber;
String databaseName = "traffic";
String url = "jdbc:microsoft:sqlserver://" + mydatabase +";databaseName="+databaseName+";";
String username = "sa";
String password = "foobar";
// Load the JDBC driver
Class.forName(driverName);
// Create a connection to the database
connection = DriverManager.getConnection(url, username, password);
I have also tried the following as the serverName:
"TERRAIN\\BEATTHETRAFFIC"
"localhost/TERRAIN\\BEATTHETRAFFIC"
"127.0.0.1/TERRAIN\\BEATTHETRAFFIC"
I have tried the above with / instead of \\ as well.
With these, I get the error:
[Microsoft][SQLServer 2000 Driver for JDBC]Error establishing socket.
I have also tried doing
"localhost:TERRAIN\\BEATTHETRAFFIC" and
"localhost:TERRAIN/BEATTHETRAFFIC" and used 127.0.0.1 instead of "localhost" as well.
but with these I get
[Microsoft][SQLServer 2000 Driver for JDBC]Unable to connect. Invalid URL.
I'm honestly at my wits' end here. I haven't really tried to connect to a Sql Server database before, and haven't done much work with connecting to databases in general, so maybe I'm making some glaringly obvious mistake, so if anyone could point it out, I'd be very grateful.

Answer 1

For the value of serverName, you need to use an Internet-style host name, or an IP-address, not a Windows resource name.
Examples of an internet-style host name are:
this_host
this_host.my_company.com
Names with slashes in them are not Internet-style.
The requirement is that name be something that your operating system can convert to an IP address. At least on newer versions of Windows (and most versions of Unix/Linux) you can find out the host name, with the "hostname" command. On windows:
Click the Start button.
Click the Run... link
Enter "cmd" into the command line and click OK ( a new command window will open)
In the new command window, enter "hostname" and hit enter. The system will give you the host name you need to use (upper/lower case does not matter).
To confirm that the name ought to work, in that still-open command window, enter "ping [whatever the host name is]". You should get about 10 lines back that includes 4 lines that begin with "Reply from [your IP address] ..."