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Failed to open connection error message on Crystal Server

Former Member
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I have recently upgraded my desktop to Windows 7. Crystal Reports XI Developer works fine on this new system as it did on my earlier Vista system. I can create and run reports with no problems on each of these system using Developer.

The problem I am experiencing is this: when I publish, using the Publishing Wizard, a report on my Crystal Server using my Windows 7 system, the report does not work. Instead, the error message: 'Failed to open connection' appears from Crystal Report Viewer.

If I open the same report using my Developer license on my old Vista machine and then re-save it, I can publish it to my CR Server and it runs successfully.

ODBC is used on all systems and all appear to be 32 bit versions, albeit different version numbers.

This problem can be repeated with any of the many reports currently in use.

Accepted Solutions (1)

Accepted Solutions (1)

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Hi Bob,

Likely slight differences in the ODBC Drivers you have on each PC. Or could be the client also.

What DB server are you using and what version of the Client is installed on 7 and the Server?

What OS is the Server where CRS is running?

Don

Former Member
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Hi Don,

Not sure what you mean by the 'client' - would you clarify? I run CR XI Developer on my desktops.

Regarding the server, it is Windows Server 2003 R2. It runs both SQL 2008 and our CR Server XI software.

Thanks for your assistance.

Bob.

Edited by: Bob Amiral on Jul 28, 2011 8:54 PM

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Hi Bob,

MS SQL Server 2008 uses a new client engine. The old SQL Native was updated to SQL Native 10. And there may be issues using the MDAC version when connecting to 2008. Depending on the which version of MDAC you have installed on both your PC and the CRS server may be the difference.

Unfortunately CR XI does not support SQL 2008, we added support for it in CR XI R2 SP6 and FP 6.2 and CR 2008 SP 3 and FP 3.4.

How are you connecting? ODBC or OLE DB? Which driver are you using also?

If you go to MS's site and search you'll find info also on MDAC/WDAC and how to check the version as well as the MS SQL Server Client tools which installs the SQL 10 driver.

For debugging you could run SQL Profiler and compare what your PC is sending and what the CRS server is sending. I assume you did change the Server connection info on the CRS Report Database Properties also correct?

Don

Former Member
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HI Don,

Let's see if I understand what you're saying:

When a report is created on a legacy desktop in CR Developer, the ODBC connection on that computer works with direct access to the SQL Server 2008 on my Windows Server 2003 R2 system. I can then also publish these using the Publishing Wizard to the CRS these same reports and they run successfully; no connection issues, works great.

However, when a report is created on my 64 bit Windows 7 desktop in CR Developer, the ODBC connection on that computer also works well with direct access to the SQL Server 2008 on my Windows Server 2003 R2 system. BUT, when I then publish these using the Publishing Wizard to the CRS these same reports do NOT successfully connect to the database and that is when I get the Crystal Viewer message about the connection failed.

So, I would assume then that Crystal Server on my Windows Server 2003 system is similar enough to older MDAC criteria on legacy systems but different enough my Win7 desktop to introduce the problem even though Developer on that same Win7 system works fine directly against the SQL DB.

If this is all correct, then I either need a legacy MDAC to work on my Win7 system, or an updated MDAC\WDAC for Crystal Server to use.

By the way, I'm using ODBC and here are some details from the Component Checker:

Server:

MDAC 2.8 SP2 on Windows Server 2003 SP2

Desktops:

MDAC 2.8 SP1 on Windows XP SP3 - on an XP machine that works fine

UNKNOWN on Vista (but it works fine with CRS)

UNKNOWN on Windows 7 - (doesn't work with CRS - must be a different UNKNOWN than on Vista)

Thanks for your assistance as this is rather important -

Bob.

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Hi Bob,

CR keeps the name of the database driver in the RPT file itself. Open a report up and click on Set Data Source and expand the connection info. For SQL Server Native 10 driver you'll see the name of the dll is:

Provider: SQLNCLI10

For a report that uses the MDAC version it is listed as:

Provider: SQLNCLI

This is the cause, Before the patches the Designer, even though you selected the 10 driver would not retain the new driver so it looked for the MS SQL 2005 driver installed with MDAC even though the report was created off the 2008 driver.

So what happens is the references get altered thus causing the errors. Most things will work with the 2005 drivers but some new features and changed DB/Client API's don't work the same thus causing the problems.

Hope that's clear?

Don

Former Member
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Don,

When I open a report in Developer XI, I can click Database, then select Set Datasource Location. Once I do this, I can look at properties of the connection, I presume, but it just shows the following:

Database Type: ODBC (RDO)

Data Source Name: MOM 7i SQL (this is the name I gave my ODBC connection when I set it up)

User ID: bob (me)

Datebase: MailOrderManger (our database)

Trusted Connection: 1

Use DSN Default Properties: False

Perhaps I'm looking in the wrong place. Where would I look to find the Connection/Provider info?

Bob

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Hi Bob,

Ah, sorry about that. I'm used to using OLE DB where it is listed. CR doesn't list the driver when using ODBC because the driver is part of the ODBC DSN info in which case CR doesn't care what driver you use, we assume it works.

To get the info you can read this registry key for ODBC:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\ODBC\ODBCINST.INI

You'll have to update the reports to use a new DSN or possibly using the same DSN but using the 10 driver after deleting it and readding it with the updated driver on the Server.

Don

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