Professional Software Programming

Microsoft SQL Server listens for incoming connections on a particular port. The default port for SQL Server is 1433. However, it doesn't need to be 1433.

It is a bit tricky to connect to the SQL Server running on a non-standard port. When connecting to the SQL Server running on a non-standard port, many people instinctively try to specify the server address in a IP:PORT format. Unfortunately, this doesn't work.

In order to connect to an SQL Server running on a non-standard port, you must specify the server address in a IP,PORT format. For example, if the IP address of the server is 235.12.175.96 and the SQL Server listens to 1037 port, you must specify 235.12.175.96,1037 as the server name.