One of the challenges especially with SQL Express is that you need to enable some protocols on the network level first in order to connect to it. You might see an error message the one below when you try to connect to SQL – stating SQLState 08001 and Error 17.
In order to resolve this, you need to enable named pipes and TCP in the SQL Server Configuration Manager that was installed by default on your system. See the image below on how it should look like. Please note that you need to restart the SQL service in order for those changes to take effect.
Please note – there might be a need of additional configuration like the Windows Firewall or other parameters, the above just addresses a rather common issue.
