title: Unable to connect in SQL Management Studio
body: <p>My application is throwing error from a client machine of not able to connect to the database.  So as a test I use SQL Management Studio 2008 on that same client machine to try and connect to the database and I found out that if I use IP\InstanceName then I can connect but if I use ServerComputerName\InstanceName then I can't connect.  I have verified the following:</p>
  
  <ol>
  <li>The server has the same gateway and subnet mask as the client.</li>
  <li>I can ping the server using either its IP address or its computer name.</li>
  <li>No Firewall on either server or client machine.</li>
  <li>Verify Server SQL browser service is running.</li>
  <li>Verify Server is set to allow remote connection.</li>
  <li>Verify Server TCP/IP is enabled via SQL SErver Configration Manager.</li>
  <li>I can connect from a different client machine using ServerComputerName\InstanceName </li>
  <li>Both server and client are using static IP setup with no DNS server under IPV4 properties.</li>
  <li>Tracert from client to server shows only one hop, that is directly to the server machine IP.
  
  <ol start="10">
  <li>I can remote access the client machine from the server machine or viceversa using host name.</li>
  </ol></li>
  </ol>
  
  <p>I then go to the server machine and connect using LNKLAB8\Xmark  (LNKLAB8 is the host name and Xmark is my instance name) and I connected successfully. However, when I run the command SELECT @@SERVERNAME, the result I got back is LNKLABARIAL8\XMARK</p>
  
  <p>This baffled me, because if I right click on the database properties as per the screenshot below, it shows LNKLAB8/Xmark ..   am I going crazy or something weird going on here? after taking at the steps I've taken, do you have any suggestion of how I can get the client machine to connect to the database using the server host name instead of the server IP address?</p>
  
  <p>I've kind of hit the wall on this issue, I'm unsure if I am facing a network related issue or it is a database setting issue.</p>
  
  <p>Edit:  When I tried to connect using host name to the server DB I would get the following:</p>
  
  <p>network-related or instance-specific error occurred while establishing a connection to SQL Server. The server was not found or was not accessible. Verify that the instance name is correct and that SQL Server is configured to allow remote connections. (provider: SQL Network Interfaces, error: 26 - Error Locating Server/Instance Specified)</p>
  
  <p><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/BDuWC.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></p>