SQL Server – Fixing Connection Issues to Always On Availability Listener

availability-groupssql serverssms

I am trying to connect to the AG Listener in SSMS.
I choose [Connect]
Then [Database Engine]
I type in the name of the listener I created.
SQLListener
[Windows Authentication]
Click [Connect]

After about 1-minute, I receive the following ERROR message

TITLE: Connect to Server

Cannot connect to SQLListener.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

A 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: Named
Pipes Provider, error: 40 – Could not open a connection to SQL Server)

(Microsoft SQL Server, Error: 2)

The system cannot find the file specified

I watched a video on YT where this guy runs through the creation of the AG.
He names his GROUP and his LISTENER
Identical names, and can connect to the Listener, through SSMS.
However, I cannot.
My Group is: SQLGroup
My listener is: SQLListener
(Are they supposed to be identical names?)

I wanted to make sure my Listener port was available and was able to be reached
so I ran the following on the primary SQL Core Server.
The listener is registered in DNS and in AD – Computers as SQLListener.

cmd = netstat -ano|fine "2433"
Returned
TCP 192.168.2.77:2433 0.0.0.0:0 Listening 252
I did an NSLookup on the SQLListener.

CMD nslookup SQLListener
Returned:
Server: MasterDC.Domain.local
Address: 192.168.2.88
Name: SQLListener.domain.local
Address: 192.168.2.77
Everything is accurate.

Do I need to open the port 2433 on my work station to add the listener within SSMS?
What is it that I am missing here?

Wayne

Best Answer

When you configure your listener to use a non-default port (any port other than 1433), then you need to specify the port number in the server name when connecting in order to connect successfully.

This is detailed in the documentation here.