Strangely similar to my post: http://beyondrelational.com/modules/2/blogs/77/Posts/13652/0152-sql-server-connecting-to-a-sql-sever-named-instance-using-the-ip-address-and-tcpip-port-number.aspx

Thanks Nakul for posting the link. I just went through the link which you provided and I see that, in your approach we need to find out the IP address and provide that while connecting, which in most cases is not required as just providing Server Name would suffice.

True, in most cases, specifying the server name is sufficient in most cases. However, we had a requirement wherein the IT guys at a customer location only believed in IP addresses. Although this happened a couple of years ago, I thought of sharing it with all.

Sharing definitely makes a lot of sense. As a matter of fact we learn a lot of new things everyday from this wonderful community, and it's our duty to give back to this community and in fact contributing to the community is a pleasure and gives us satisfaction. Appreciate your sharing!!

Did you check whether the SQL Browser is running ? Cause all the incoming connections to the named instance would be invalidated if sql browser is not running for the instance or you have not mentioned the port number or the named pipe in the connection parameter.

@Sachin - Yes the browser was running. But as mentioned in the original article, this approach didn't work for me with a Named Instance (with SQL Browser running).

@Sachin: I have seen a couple of production instances where SQL Server browser service is either disabled or they have chosen to hide the instances from an enumeration request due to security reasons. You can refer my post: http://beyondrelational.com/modules/2/blogs/77/posts/11347/sql-server-configuration-manager-hide-your-sql-server-instance.aspx for more details. In most production instances, we don't rely on the SQL server browser service.

@Datta Unfortunately I couldn't find anywhere in your article where you had mentioned that browser was running hence the question.

@Sachin - Thanks for pointing out. I have updated the above tip as well as the original article to include the additional information about SQL Browser Service.