TechNote (Archived)

MS SQL Server Service Pack affects the embedded database engine port

Issue

By default, the embedded database engine that ships with Breeze 5.x listens on port 1434. In Breeze 4.x and older, the embedded database engine listens on port 1433 and will continue to listen on port 1433 when you upgrade to Breeze 5. When you install a fresh Breeze 5 server with the embedded database engine, the server listens on port 1434. However, if you are using Breeze 4 with the embedded database engine and upgrade to Breeze 5, the embedded database engine still listens on port 1433. Therefore, it is necessary for you to ensure that the Breeze 5.x server listens on port 1433 or 1434. Otherwise, Breeze 5.x may not be able to connect to the database.

There is one instance when the database port is reverted back to port 1433. When you install Microsoft SQL Server 2000 Service Pack 4, it reverts port 1434 back to 1433. In that case, you can either modify the system registry for Microsoft SQL Server 2000 to port 1434 or you can keep it at port 1433. In any event, you will need to ensure that Breeze 5.x is able to communicate with the embedded database engine.

Steps to determine which port the embedded database engine listens on:

Logon to the Breeze server.
Make sure the MSSQLSERVER service is started (this is the service name in the Services panel in the Control Panel).
Launch the command prompt (Start > Run > cmd).
Enter the following commands

telnet localhost 1433 or telnet localhost 1434

If the embedded database engine listens on port 1433 or 1434, you will see a black dialogue box with a blinking cursor; otherwise, you will see a message similar to these messages "Connecting To localhost...Could not open connection to the host, on port 1434 Connection failed".

Solution

The following steps ensure that Breeze 5.x can communicate with the embedded database engine:

Logon to the Breeze server.
Navigate to the Breeze installed folder (for example: C:\Breeze).
Back up the custom.ini file.
Edit the custom.ini file.
Search for DB_PORT or, if the DB_PORT does not exist, add DB_PORT.
You will need to determine which port the embedded database engine listens on. If it listens on port 1433, the tag should be DB_PORT=1433. If it listens on port 1434, then the DB_PORT should be set as DB_PORT=1434.
Save the custom.ini file.
Stop Macromedia Breeze Application Service, Flash Communication Administration Server and Flash Communication Server (FlashCom).
Start Flash Communication Server (FlashCom) and Macromedia Breeze Application Service (when starting up Flash Communication Server (FlashCom), it will start up Flash Communication Administration Server automatically).

Note: If you are running Microsoft SQL Server 2000 server, the steps to ensure Breeze 5 is able to communicate with the Microsoft SQL server 2000 are the same as above. Depending on your security policy, Microsoft SQL Server 2000 may be configured to listen on a totally different port than 1433.