How to create aliases without installing SQL Server 2005 Client Tools
Solution 1:
I've found a way to configure aliases that doesn't involve installing client tools on the production server.
Aliases can be setup using SQL Server Client Network Utility (cliconfg.exe) as described in this article: How to setup and use a SQL Server alias
This utility is part of a standard install since Windows 2000 Server and I can confirm that it worked for me on Windows 2008 Server R1 (64-bit).
Solution 2:
Yes, its true, you need client tools to access this console. Obviously if you don't have SSMS running locally, then you have another computer that has the client tools running that can access the database server.
You can either use the computer management console from the computer with SSMS to connect to your SQL Server box as described here or, there is a lesser known method to get access to this from within SSMS:
- Register the server in the registered servers console
- Right-click on registered server and click SQL Server Configuration Manager...
The tool is actually a mmc snap-in called SQLServerManager.msc, although I don't think it's portable enough to simply copy to a box to run stand alone.