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I'm lost here, I am configuring a SQL Server for failover and have three servers.

Principal server > SQL 2008 R2
Witness server > SQL 2014
Mirror server > SQL 2008 R2

All three servers can ping the other via IP and FQDN.

The endpoints configure successfully but when I go to start mirroring, I get this error:

Alter failed for Database 'DBNAME'

The ALTER DATABASE command could not be sent to the remote server instance 
'TCP://witness.domain.abc:5022'.  The database mirroring configuration was not changed.  
Verify that the server is connected and try again.

Any idea what this error is?

I restored the database and transaction log to the mirror server. All I did on the witness server is set up SQL, is there anything else I need to do?

Banging my head against the wall here.

Tom
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1 Answers1

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You've created an ENDPOINT on the witness, right?
Read this on how to create a witness endpoint.

Check that there isn't either the Windows firewall or a network device blocking the endpoint port on either principal to witness or mirror to witness. I always like to use:

telnet hostname port

To test that the ports are open. You should get a connection with telnet. A time out or a connection refused means some things is wrong.
I'd also check the authorization used on the endpoints. KERBEROS requires SPNs setup for it to work. NEGOTIATE is the most compatible, but weakest in terms of security.

Nick Kavadias
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  • If I use putty to telnet to the server the window opens and closes, no output. Does that mean the port is closed? – Tom Oct 20 '15 at 19:34
  • Ok, I ran netstat -an on the server in question and I can see that `TCP 0.0.0.0:5022 LISTENING` doesn't that mean the port is open? – Tom Oct 20 '15 at 19:38
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    @tom sounds open. Check auth methods – Nick Kavadias Oct 20 '15 at 21:50
  • Yup, that was it. The SQL Server service on the principal server was using some weird account to connect to the witness. Changed it to the domain admin account and now everything works fine. Thanks – Tom Oct 21 '15 at 14:18