Resolving the error ‘An existing connection was forcibly closed by the remote host’

Have you been getting this error while connecting to SQL Server?

‘An existing connection was forcibly closed by the remote host’

Here are some possible reasons and solutions for this error :

- The version of SQL Native Client used on the client computer is not up to date. Try updating the SQL Native Client.

- Use the SQL Server Surface Area Configuration tool to make sure SQL Server is configured to accept remote connections.

- Connection pooling can be enabled and the server closes the connection due to the result of a restart or network failure. Sometimes connecting again solves the issue. Also ask the administrator if number of connections are being limited. Check this link if you facing issues from a web application

- At times there could be a problem with the Network Infrastructure. Contact your network administrator to investigate if packets are being sent across.

- If you receive this error on a Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2 (SP2) or Windows Server 2003 Scalable Networking Pack (SNP) that has a TCP/IP Offload-enabled network adapter, check this KB article

These KB articles may prove helpful too -

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/919710

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/948496

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/914277