One of the bloggers I follow is Brent Ozar. I tell you I’m a fan. I like the way he writes his stuff.

Anyway, he blogged about The Problem With SQL Server Training Today, and The Answer to SQL Server Training Problems a week or so ago. And this is the answer – SQLServerPedia  – SQL Server Knowledge and Advice Straight from the Experts.

So in between giving out candies to cute little Indiana Joneses, pirates of the Caribbean, vampires and dead cheerleaders, I’ve been soaking in SQLServerPedia (geeky ‘no?). So far, so good. I’ll be a frequent flyer.

PS – and if you’re a DBA, you’ll find great laughs in this post : Somebody Created a Halloween Monster #SQLputdowns

Problem:

SQL Server replication requires the actual server name to make a connection to the server. Connections through a server alias, IP address, or any other alternate name are not supported. Specify the actual server name, ‘SQLVMSQL02’. (Replication.Utilities)

Scenario:

1. We configured database mirroring on 2 SQL Server instances.

2. We changed the computer name from SQLVM to SQL2K5.

3. We tried launching the Database Mirroring monitor, but we got the following error:

SQL Server replication requires the actual server name to make a connection 

to the server. Connections through a server alias, IP address, or any other 

alternate name are not supported. Specify the actual server name, 'SQLVMSQL02'. 

(Replication.Utilities)

If you just look at the error, it sounds a bit misleading because we don’t have replication configured in either of the servers.

Resolution:

-- 1. drop old server/instance name

EXEC sp_dropserver [sqlvmsql01] 

GO

-- 2. add newserver/instance name

-- local meaning we're adding the local machine

EXEC sp_addserver [mysql2k5sql01], local 

GO

-- 3. Restart SQL Server service