Raspberry Pi ...

[graeme]

Nope, full Kevlar recommended.

How the hell... right, back to Raspberry Pis!

[BiggestNizzy]

Cheers all The Microsoft SQL server 2008 is already there and I want to pull some info off it. Setting up a lamp server with mysql would have been too easy

The end game is to have a raspberry pi running a web browser as a kiosk with php querying the database to output some html - easy.

[DJ]

Timely thread resurrection.

My eldest just won one of these at school in her Computing class the other week. Came with a whole host of other brand new stuff; a caddy, keyboard, mouse, USB stick, SD card, wifi dongle, leads and cables and a few other bits and bobs. Given neither of us have a clue what to do with it, she wants to sell it. Drop a PM if interested and I can give full list/spec. Will try and get round to sticking it up on classifieds.

[graeme]

Shame to get rid of it, DJ, especially if DJ-ette is already showing aptitude at computing. Happy to help with projects if any ideas crop up.

How about a Google Calendar on the kitchen wall for family schedules/dates/events?

http://www.instructables.com/id/Raspber ... -Calendar/

[scott_e]

Media Centre app XBMC for me on a Pi .... not quite as technical to get up an running as some of the project mentioned it has to be said but another good use for the hardware.

[DJ]

Shame to get rid of it, DJ, especially if DJ-ette is already showing aptitude at computing. Happy to help with projects if any ideas crop up.

How about a Google Calendar on the kitchen wall for family schedules/dates/events?

http://www.instructables.com/id/Raspber ... -Calendar/

Very kind offer, thanks. Was trying to tempt her by saying it looked like she could use it to get Netflix on her (non smart) TV in her room. She's not biting though. She's proving to be a wee academic - doing really well in virtually all subjects thankfully, but Computing doesn't seem to be one that gets her interest.

[robin]

Clearly low on midichlorians ... which is quite probably a blessing!

[graeme]

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Midi-chlorian

Nope, me neither.

[BiggestNizzy]

Little update. We got everything working but are struggling to connect to the mssql server. tried telnet but no joy there either.

[graeme]

Can you ping it?

Do you know of anything else on the network which can successfully connect to the SQL Server from outside the server itself? If no, the MSSQL server may only be listening for connections from itself (localhost or 127.0.0.1), not from external machines on the network.

Do you have access to the SQL Server to check its settings? What version of SQL Server is it? Look for "Listen All" in the TCP/IP settings (meaning listen on all interfaces, not just locally).

Also confirm the port it's listening on matches your FreeTDS config.

[BiggestNizzy]

Can you ping it?

Yes

Do you know of anything else on the network which can successfully connect to the SQL Server from outside the server itself? If no, the MSSQL server may only be listening for connections from itself (localhost or 127.0.0.1), not from external machines on the network.

Yes, we run a system called Emax, we also run our edgecam toolstore database on it.

Do you have access to the SQL Server to check its settings? What version of SQL Server is it? Look for "Listen All" in the TCP/IP settings (meaning listen on all interfaces, not just locally).

Sort of IT are not that helpfull, as they seem to be out their depth we are running SQLserver2008. We can access it easily in using access, excel but I just can't connect. IT have spoke to our other IT supplier and they said it should just be qa case of connecting.

Also confirm the port it's listening on matches your FreeTDS config.

Trying to telnet in
with linux 'sudo telnet 192.168.##.### 1433times out
with windows 'o 192.168.##.### 1433'

both time out.

[graeme]

When you say telnet times out... that might be ok.

If the server wasn't listening on 1433 I think you'd get a pretty quick "can't connect". Try the same telnet to 1435 or something you know is NOT correct to see if it behaves differently. Silence from the server on 1433 might be a good thing.

[robin]

Niz, paste up exactly the telnet command and consequent output (or the windows equivalent - it doesn't matter which).

If telnet connects but then sits there silently for a while and then hangs up then the networking is probably OK.

If telnet never connects then the networking is not OK.

You say it pings - does it ping from the R.Pi or just from another windows machine.

My money is on security/firewall configuration on the server.

Cheers,
Robin

[steve_weegie]

My money is on security/firewall configuration on the server.

^^ This. In these circumstances, I always get a LAN trace with Wireshark. Trace through the connection to the DB from a working source, then do the same from the problematic client. There's no substitute for seeing the raw comms between the client and server.

[robin]

The problem with getting wireshark to work in these environments is that at the R.Pi end you can obviously just run tshark or whatever to capture the packets at the adapter, but for windows->windows in a switched LAN environment (there is no other kind these days) it is pretty hard to get in the path between the two unless you have admin access to the switch and can enable the monitoring/mirror port stuff.

Microsoft do have a tshark-like tool that can trace packets on a Windows machine but you'll need administrator privileges at either the client or server end to install that.

Is there a really good reason why you're trying to do this with an R.Pi rather than a Windows machine (which presumably your IT people would be able to support)?

There are tons of small form factor PCs out there - e.g. the Intel NUC - that will run Windows and if there is commercial value to what your're doing then the cost difference should be minor issue.

Cheers,
Robin