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UDDI Implementation – Part #2

During our last implementation we received an error when we tried to install UDDI component on the web server; as you know you have to install UDDI on the SQL server first, and this was executed without problems but when we tried to do the same on the web box, just when we provide the SQL server name and installer tries to open the UDDI database hosted on it, we received the following error:

UDDI Error

One of the resource that you have use to troubleshoot an UDDI installation is the uddisetup.log file that you can find on C:\windows\ path. Reading it we could see the following entry:

04/28/08 09:50:52: Looking for UDDI databases on machine BKDTESTSQL01
04/28/08 09:50:53: ———————————————————-
04/28/08 09:50:53: An error occurred during installation. Details follow:
04/28/08 09:50:53: Action: Unable to open the UDDI\Setup\DBServer regkey
04/28/08 09:50:53: Message: Access is denied.

And using the WireShark tool we could check that the problem appeared when the web server tried to talk with SQL one across port 445, the “SMB (Server Message Block”) over IP” port.

In fact UDDI use this port to access to the Registry information in SQL server and know what is the database name that it can use (and other information) so we could think that we have to open this port to enable the communication in a “standard” UDDI environment, but as you know we have to try to avoid the port 445 opening for security reasons, and UDDI is not an unsecure application.

In this scenario, UDDI is trying to use port 445 because it is trying to contact with SQL across Named Pipes via NetBIOS instead to use the TCP/IP protocol. This is because Named Pipes is enabled on the SQL server so we have to force to both machines to use TCP/IP protocol to talk between them and avoid the use of port 445. Forcing the TCP/IP communication, our web server will use port 1433 (the SQL standard one) to talk with the SQL box.

The best way to force to use TCP/IP protocol is to create an alias on the web server to point to SQL one across TCP/IP protocol. To do it, follow these steps:

  • Click Start , click Run , type cliconfg , and then click OK . 

  • In the SQL Server Client Network Utility dialog box, click the Alias tab, and then click Add . 

  • In the Add Network Library Configuration dialog box, under Network libraries , click TCP/IP . 

  • In the Server alias box, type the IP address of the computer or the name of the computer that is running SQL Server, and then click OK . 

So the port list that we provide on the first part of this lesson learned post is correct: 1433 (TCP) and 1434 (UDP) for SQL communication, and 135 and 5000-50xx for RPC communication.

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