Hi, If a windows SBS 2003 SP2 has two NICs, one is private (192.168.1.1) and the other one is public (93.x.x.x) and connected to LAN and Internet respectively, then I can access SQL Server 2005 from any of the LAN machine (on the same physical network) using SQL Server management studio. But I can not do so from a remote machine (somewhere on the Internet). I can ping this IP 93.x.x.x from a remote machine, but the SQL Server Management Studio can not access it. There is no firewall installed, default window firewall is also disabled. Please tell me if there is any constraint by default applied when we assign a public IP and it needs to be addressed. Regards Regards

Where did you get the public IP address? Did you purchase a static IP address from your ISP? Is there a modem and a router involved?

rajoo_sh until you teach yourself about network security especially when dealing with the internet... you are a hackers/spammers dream. Your public ip should go to your routers wan interface. You port forward from that wan interface to your SBS server. Example of Oxymoron: Person who is pro life and anti sex education. Education is key to prevention. Prevent conception you prevent abortion. Abstinence training clearly isn't working.

Thanks guys, Yes we bought the static IP from the service provider. I know that exposing a server with a public IP will be an easy catch for hackers, we'll for sure install a firewall, but before that we want to fix this issue, accessing SQL Server remotely.

Dual homed Windows machines are a hassle, so if you set it up the way wanderer described, it should work and you would be securing the network at the same time. Disable one of the NICs, let the external IP go to the modem and put all the machines behind the router. You can use static IPs on the LAN side if it's easier and set the router to forward the port for SQL. BTW, It looked like the internal IP of the server was going to conflict with the IP of the router.