Hi there,

I am running DNN across two W2K3 servers, both with 2.8GHz processors and 1GB RAM, one is running the Web Services the other SQL Server 2000 sp4.  SQL Server is using Named Pipes and TCP/IP and is running Windows and SQL authentication.

I am running two instances of DNN 3.2.2, one is configured to use SQL Authentication and the other impersonation with trusted connection using mirrored accounts.

I would like to use this latter configuration because I prefer not to be putting passwords in the web.config file.

When I am using the site running trusted connection, often I will get "SQL Server not found or access denied" messages, at which point, refreshing the browser window will normally prompt the connection to work successfully.  If I force the application to reload by saving the web.config file I invariably receive the sql message, often if I add a new module and then click the 'return' link at the bottom of the module install log, I get the message again.

I get none of these issues if using SQL Authentication.

My W2K3 security event log on the SQL box is showing plenty of Failure Audit events where the application box is trying to connect to the sql box, the reason shown is Unknown user name or password, and the user name is the name of the application box with a $ suffixed to it.  When the browser is refreshed, the successful logon takes place and all is well, until the application needs restarting or I add a module.  A keepalive module would no doubt work to keep the application going, but this wouldn't actually solve the problem, it would just mask it.

Is anyone able to offer explanations for this, or explain exactly what happens when dnn tries to start and then connect to a remote server using trusted connections?  In other words what processes/Ids are involved and in what order?

Many thanks

Barry