How to create a server alias in SQL Server 2012 We have a Windows Server 2012 server running with 2 instances of SQL Server 2012 installed on it - Live and System. Both instances are accepting connections on 1433 &amp; Live is the default instance (1433 set in the ListenAll port).

We have a program that needs to connect to the System instance, however it does not support named instances of SQL Server.

From what I have read, we have 2 options - 


install an extra network card, create a separate DNS record for it and have the System instance listen to all connections to 1433 on that card
Create a DNS record pointing to the server and use SQL Alias to point to System instance


We'd prefer to go with option 2 as it means we don't need to setup any more hardware, but I can't get it to work. The network team has set up an extra DNS A record ("programDB") to point to the server. 

On the SQL Server I have created an alias using the SQL Server Configuration Manager:


Alias Name="programDB" [I've also tried "programDB.domain.com.au"]
Port No = 1433
Protocol = TCP/IP
Server = ServerName\System


I have set this up in both the 32 and 64 bit configuration

When I connect to programDB from SSMS, it connects me to the Live instance, not the System instance.

Have I miss understood how aliases work, or have I missed something in the setup?

Update: This is what I have set up:


DNS A Record set up to point "programdb" to the IP address of the server
SQL Aliases (x32 &amp; x64):





TCP/IP Settings (port set to 1544):




I've restarted the services a number of times. If I try to connect to "programdb,1544" then it connects to the System instance
Set one of your instances to use a different port. The alias will allow the different port to be used without the client having to worry about it.