title: Unable to connect to SQL Server via pymssql
body: <p>I am attempting to connect to SQL Server running on Windows XP system from a *nix system on a local server via pymssql.  However, the connection fails as shown below</p>
  
  <pre><code>db = pymssql.connect(host='192.168.1.102',user='www',password='test',database='TestDB')
  Traceback (most recent call last):
  
  File "&lt;stdin&gt;", line 1, in &lt;module&gt;
  File "pymssql.pyx", line 457, in pymssql.connect (pymssql.c:6041)
  raise InterfaceError(e[0])
  pymssql.InterfaceError: Connection to the database failed for an unknown reason.
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Things I've tried: </p>
  
  <ol>
  <li>Set SQL Server and browser to run as a network server.</li>
  <li>Setup a user 'www'.  I also tested this user locally in SQL Studio.</li>
  <li>Turned off Windows firewall (temporarily of course).</li>
  </ol>
  
  <p>I am missing SOMETHING - I just don't know what it is.  I tried all of the infinite menu options on Windows to no avail.  One thing I noticed is that if the Windows Firewall is on (I setup an exception for SQL Server) python pauses a long time and then gives the error.  If the firewall is off the error is instant.</p>
  
  <p>Are there any logs I can look at in SQL Server?</p>