A connection to the CMS database could not be opened

  • Updated

When registering your CMS site with Solr you may encounter the following error:

A connection to the CMS database could not be opened with the connection string that was provided. Please review it and try again.

Logs are available for this console and for the Ektron Solr Administrative Service, which may contain additional details.

No CMS Database Found

This is due to an issue of the Solr server not able to connect to your SQL Server where the CMS database is installed.

To resolve this issue, wet recommend that you reach out your Database Administrator to assist with the following:

On the Solr Server:

  1. Check the Solr Administration logs for any errors. C:\Program Files (x86)\Ektron\Search2.0\Administrative Service
  2. Is there a Firewall not allowing port 1433 traffic to the Solr server (or the SQL server port that was provided)?
  3. If SQL is installed on the Solr server, is SQL Browser Service started?
  4. Check the Solr server's Event Viewer Windows>Application logs for a specific system account error message. Is that user listed in SQL's Security folder and have db_owner permissions to the CMS database?

On the SQL Server:

  1. If IntegratedSecurity in the CMS site's web.config is set to false, can that user log into the SQL server?
    • Does that user have db_owner rights (db_reader, writer, executor)?
  2. If using SQL Server 2012 does the System account have db_owner permissions to the CMS database?
  3. Is TCP/IP Enabled as well as Named Pipes, under SQL Native Client xx Configuration> Client Protocols, and under SQL Server Network Configuration? You can check this through SQL Server Configuration Manager.

We also recommend referencing this article, as it has some extra information that can assist with subtle changes in SQL that can help with connectivity issues: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/11278114/enable-remote-connections-for-sql-server-express-2012