Try as I might I cannot get remote access to my install of SQL Server. I know the firewall (Windows Server 2008) is the problem, since if I drop the firewall I can connect fine. I have the port open in the firewall but still no connection. It's driving me crazy, am I miss something really obvious?
I've double checked that the port I specified is the one used to get the connection, but it's as if the firewall is just ignoring my exception...
Just to check, you are using TCP port 3389 (default of RDP), right? What scope do you have the firewall rule under? If you defined the FW rule for a different scope than the OS thinks it is coming from, it won't match it. ie, if the network adapter is on a "public" scope and the rule you put in is for a "domain" scope, it won't match.
EDIT: Doh. Just realized I misread that - I thought you said remote desktop. Do you have both 1433 and 1434 UDP opened up?
Can you post your full rule? We're kind of grasping at straws here.
Are you connecting via Named Pipes or TCP/IP? TCP/IP will require port 1433, but Named Pipes use the standard Windows RPC mechanism and require ports 139 and 445 to be open.
Do you created an inbound rule for port TCP 1433? I have the same problem a few days ago at work because I created by mistake an outbound rule (I didn't realize that until the next day...).
Also, if your server don't use the default instance (e.g. you access the server using
servername\instance
instead of jusservername
), you need to allow access to the SQL Server Browser too (UPD 1434).