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I have two servers on different untrusted domains. Server A is the publisher and is running SQL Server 2008 R2. Server B is the subscriber and is running SQL 2008 R2 Express. Since the servers are on separate domains without a trust relationship, I am using pass-through authentication to connect to each server. This involves creating a local windows account on each server with the same username and password and then using windows authentication to connect to the remote server. Using this method, I am able to connect Server A to Server B and vice versa in SQL Server Management Studio. I am also able to create a transactional publication on Server A and create a push subscription to it on Server B.

However when I open up the View Synchronization Status Window, I get the message "The process could not connect to SUbscriber 'Server B'." Opening up Replication Monitor gives me the following error messages:

The process could not connect to Subscriber 'Server B'. (Source: MSSQL_REPL, Error number: MSSQL_REPL0)

Named Pipes Provider: Could not open a connection to SQL Server [53]. (Source: MSSQLServer, Error number: 53)

A network-related or instance-specific error has occurred while establishing a connection to SQL Server. Server is not found or not accessible. Check if instance name is correct and if SQL Server is configured to allow remote connections. For more information see SQL Server Books Online. (Source: MSSQLServer, Error number: 53)

Login timeout expired (Source: MSSQLServer, Error number: HYT00)

Everything else that I have read about this error says that it's a permissions issue, but I don't think this is the case. Just to make sure that there weren't any permissions issues, I made the windows accounts that I am using for the pass-through authentication local administrators on each server, db_owners on both the publisher and subscriber databases, and sysadmins on each instance of SQL Server.

Does anyone know if something other than permissions could be causing this error? What confuses me is that the servers are clearly able to connect to each other using the pass-through authentication, but the connection still fails at the distribution agent.

Community
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KKloke
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  • Has the Subscriber host name ever been changed after installing SQL Server? – Brandon Williams Aug 11 '14 at 23:16
  • It has, but I was able to address that issue by using sp_dropserver and sp_addserver and restarting the MSSQL service. Now when I select @@SERVERNAME it matches the actual name of the server. – KKloke Aug 11 '14 at 23:22
  • From the Publisher, try setting up an alias or a hostname entry pointing to the Subscriber and see if that helps. – Brandon Williams Aug 11 '14 at 23:29
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    I have also done this, using SQL authentication, with the same results. I can create the subscription, but the connection fails at the distribution agent. – KKloke Aug 11 '14 at 23:31
  • Right, try setting up an alias or a hosts file entry pointing to the Subscriber and see if that helps. – Brandon Williams Aug 11 '14 at 23:36

2 Answers2

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I had the same issue and I resolved it by completing the alias also in the 32 bit configuration. Hope it helps!

danicode
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This can be several things, first it could be a firewall issue, or your distirbution agent can't find the distributor. Ensure the browser service is running, this is especially important if the distributor is an instance. Then open up ports 1433, and 1434 for inbound communication on your firewall.

HilaryCotter
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