Question : ODBC doesn't resolve DNS correctly - Great Plains issue,  Windows 7?

Got sort of a convoluted issue.

SQL is not my expertise, nor is Great Plains software.l

I have a customer , they have various servers that host various SQL databases, and various applications connect their respective SQL Databases/Servers.

For example, there's two servers, let's call them SQL1 and SQL2

SQL1 = Great Plains server

SQL2 = customer "stats" database and application.

When I ping SQL1 from command prompt, from the Windows 7 computer, the correct IP address resolves, but when I try to create an ODBC connection to SQL1 via the FQDN ,the ODBC actually connects to SQL2. I know this because the correct databases aren't listed after the connection is made.

When I create an ODBC connection and use the ip address of SQL1 instead of the FQDN, only then am I connected to the correct server.

So I'm confused as to how/why this problem exists.

Secondly, I did change ODBC connections to use IP addresses instead of FQDN and got my customer connected, but now they get an error in Great Plains, that error message is attached.




 

Great-Plains-error.jpg (33 KB) (File Type Details) 

GP error after changing of ODBC connection to use IP address

Answer : ODBC doesn't resolve DNS correctly - Great Plains issue,  Windows 7?

Hi,

The ODBC error that you describe is definitely unusual, I've never heard of that issue.

One test that comes to mind is to try and connect to the GP SQL server without using an ODBC DSN.  If you see the correct database list, then that would seem to indicate an issue with ODBC.  If you still see the incorrect list, then that would seem to indicate a DNS issue or a SQL Server configuration issue.

If you have Excel 2007, you can create a data connection to SQL Server.  In a new Excel workbook, create a connection to the GP SQL instance.  If you know the sa password, you can use that, or if you are a domain / local admin on the server, then you can use Windows authentication.  

Depending on the results of that test, one setting to check on both of the SQL Servers is the server name.  If either of the servers were cloned or were ever renamed, that may be causing some confusion with the SQL Browser service.

Log in to each SQL Server and for each SQL *instance* on each machine, run the following two queries:

select @@servername

sp_helpserver

Check the results to see if they match the instance name that you expect.

Also verify that the SQL Browser Service is running on both SQL Servers.

Let me know if these tests turn up any additional info and we'll proceed from there.


As for the second "BCP" error when launching GP on Windows 7, I believe that this is an unrelated issue.  Try right mouse clicking on the GP Utilities icon and selecting Run As Administrator.  You can also try completely disabling User Account Control on the Win 7 machine.  Let me know if that resolves the error and gets Utilities to launch.


Thanks,

Steve Endow
Dynamics GP Certified Trainer
Dynamics GP Certified Professional