MDT Database – Named Instance Issue

So the same security conscious client that I last blogged about arranged for their DBA to install SQL Express on the MDT server, create the MDT database and configure permissions (because I’m not trusted enough to install SQL).  All seemed well and good – as I got the MDT web front-end deployed and could update the database.

Then I go to test deploying an image after configuring database rules (which basically just updates the customsettings.ini with the SQL connection info) and sure enough “SQL Server does not exist or access is denied” error messages are being displayed.

At first I though that the DBA must not have granted my deployment account db_datareader permissions, but after testing connectivity by creating an ODBC connection I confirmed that permissions were fine.

After searching the internet, I came across a few forum posts that mentioned similar issues all related to using a custom Named Instance.  Turns out if you’re using a named instance in SQL Express, you MUST have the SQL browser service enabled.  I have tested MDT with the browser service disabled (as per the DBA’s request) but of course my tests were with the default \SQLExpress instance.  After all that troubleshooting, the DBA will be reinstalling SQLExpress and reconfiguring the database since she will not enable SQL Browser service on a server that has Named Pipes enabled.

Hope that helps!