Which ports to open for Microsoft SQL Server?

Question

Having searched the internet a few times on the best way to open up SQL Server connectivity through windows firewall i've yet to find a best way of doing it. Does anyone have a guaranteed way of finding which ports SQL is running on so you can open them in windows firewall?

Answer 1

If you only have one instances of SQL Server running, and it ha TCP/IP transport enabled for non-local connections, then chances are it will be listening in the default TCP port: 1433.

If you have multiple instances, or any other complications above "a single, default, instance", then things may be more complicated. You will need to set the ports for each instance (by default they are semi-random which is not generally helpful for firewall configuration) and will need to open the SQL Browser Service too (which usually listens on TCP port 1434, though this too can be reconfigured).

There is a fairly detailed set of notes on SQL Server and firewalls at http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc646023.aspx

Answer 2

netstat -a -b -p TCP

Look at the ones where State is LISTENING.

Answer 3

The Default port for SQL Server is 1433