Hi everyone, thanks for taking time out to read this post. Now before I even go any further I just wanted to state that this question does involve MS SQL Server 2000, so if I am not in the right forum, please let me know. Now on to the problem.... I recently started to write a program for my Java class here at drexel. This project included accessing the serial port on the local machine and then authenticating some inforation that is passed throug the serial ort with a MS SQL server database.

I did some research, and I have found out that jTDS is the "best" *nix driver out for MS SQL server. So i installed the driver and started to program. The problem that I am gettuing is that my Linux machine running JBuilder 9 is not on my school domain. The SQL Server that i am trying to access hyowever is on a domain. It is set to use SQL server authentication so the Win NT stuff shouldnt be an issue. However every machine here at school, all win XP, are able to connect to the DB without a problem AS LONG AS THEY ARE ON THE DOMAIN, OR AS LONG AS YOU ARE LOGGED ON LOCALLY TO AN ACCOUNT THAT IS ALSO ON THE SQL BOX. Now this seems really out of wack to me. All the people that i work with have no idea how to allow a non domain computer to access the SQL server, especially a *nix box. This seems to be a problem that should be easily solved, but yet I have no idea where to start with this question. So please, if anyon can help me to figure out how I can connect that would be great.

The next resort int he eyes of the guy who admins the box is to make a MySQL server that replicates the SQL server and blah, blah, blah. The honest truth is that that seems to me like a whole different project to add to the current one i am working on. So any help at all is appreciated. Oh yeah, the error that i recieve in my program is that the connection is refused by the box runnign the SQL server.

Cheers

Geoff

"The SQL Server that i am trying to access hyowever is on a domain. It is set to use SQL server authentication so the Win NT stuff shouldnt be an issue. However every machine here at school, all win XP, are able to connect to the DB without a problem AS LONG AS THEY ARE ON THE DOMAIN, OR AS LONG AS YOU ARE LOGGED ON LOCALLY TO AN ACCOUNT THAT IS ALSO ON THE SQL BOX."

I think that you're right - this is contradictory. SQL Server authentication means that there is an account listed within SQL Server itself (as other DBs handle users), which has nothing to do with Windows accounts on the local machine or the domain. Giving Windows accounts permissions within SQL is called "integrated authentication", if I remember correctly. I've never tried accessing SQL using a non-MS driver, but if jTDS won't support integrated authentication then adding a username/password in SQL itself is very easy.

If the DBAs aren't clear on how MS SQL Server works then replication is a really bad idea - it's complex and mapping fields between different brands of database can cause serious problems.

I suppose I ought to add that I've only worked with SQL Server 2000 (which is a complete rewrite). Previous versions were apparently a lot more problematic, in every possible way.