What to enter as "Server Name" in SQL Server Management Studio
When I start SQL Server Managaemnt Studio (SSMS), I'm having a problem in connecting to the database.
What will be the 'server name' if my computer's name is Rakesh?
The server name in SQL Management studio often consists of two parts.
Firstly, there is the portion that identifies the computer, followed by the portion which identifies the SQL instance.
When you install MSSQL Server to your computer, you install an 'instance' which typically has a name associated with it. You may have multiple instances, and you can even elect one of these to be the 'default instance' which is used if no instance name is specified.
As mentioned in other answers, you can browse for an instance using the 'Server Name' drop down box, but this may only work if the Browsing service is enabled on the computer you wish to connect to.
To enable SQL Server Browser, Enable and start the windows service "SQL Server Browser". This should make your instances discoverable. Learn about it here
The Server name syntax is typically Machine\Instance To identify your own machine, you may use 'COMPUTERNAME', 'IPADDRESS', 'localhost', '127.0.0.1', or '.' (which is my preference).
For example:
- To connect to the default instance, use
. - To connect to instance 'MySQLservice' on Computer 'BobsComputer'
BobsComputer\MySQLservice
If you don't know your installations instance name, you can discover it by opening SQL Server Configuration Manager from your servers start menu. Within the tree, select 'SQL Server Services' and take note of the instance IDs which appear in brackets adjacent to each 'SQL Server' service.
If you are having trouble connecting to a database server, ensure your firewall is configured correctly on the server. Sometimes it is best to temporarily disable the firewall when working through issues like this.
If it's your personal computer, use any of the following for server name without the quotes:
- "(local)"
- "127.0.0.1"
- "."