I just notice today while trying to fetch a message in quarantine that SPam Filter isn't connecting to my MS SQL Database.  I stopped the applicationa dn restarted it, tested the connection to the SQL server and get an error that he "server doesn't exist of access was denied.

The Microsoft SQL Database is running on a different server.  That Server is running fine and has several other active SQL applications that are not experiencing any errors.

Randy,

Please see below a section of SpamFilter's user manual that talks how to configure an MS SQL database using UDL files (our recommended approach).

You can download the documentation (that includes the screenshots missing from the post below) from:
www.logsat.com/spamfilter/pub/SpamFilterDocs.zip


The steps to configure SpamFilter ISP to use a Microsoft SQL Server database are:
 
1.    Install Microsoft SQL Server on a server (it can be installed on the same server running SpamFilter).
2.    Create an empty database in SQL Server. The samples below assume this database to be named “spamfilter”, but you can use any other naming convention
3.    In SQL Server, create a new SQL user and assign it dbo privileges for the “spamfilter” database. After the necessary tables have been created, the privileges can be reduced to allow this user only read/write data.
4.    Configure the database connection in SpamFilter to point to the above database. The simplest way to proceed is to use a UDL file (Microsoft's Universal DataLink) to define the connection to the SQL server. In the SpamFilter\database directory you'll find several .UDL files for each database platform. Please double-click on the one for SQL Server, SpamFilterMSSQL.udl. The correct OLE DB Provider should already be selected in the "Provider" tab. Under the "Connection" tab enter the name of your SQL server, and provide the username/password just created. Ensure you check the “Allow saving password” box so the credentials are saved in the UDL file. Please see the screenshot in Figure 13 for sample settings. Click on "Test Connection" to ensure the UDL file works.

Figure 13
5.    In SpamFilter, under the "Settings - Quarantine DB" tab, click on the "..." ellipse button to select a Connection String. In the box that follows, select "Use Data Link File" and select the SpamFilterMSSQL.udl you customized before. See screenshot in Figure 14 for sample settings.
6.    Use the 1-2-3 step wizard in SpamFilter's Quarantine DB tab to create the necessary tables in SpamFilter. On step 3, ensure to click on the “Save & Activate Conn String” button.
7.    Click on the “Save Settings” button.
 

Figure 14
 
 

Randy,

In the username/password fields, are you sure you specified a valid SQL account (not a Windows account) that has  "db owner" access to the SpamFilter database? Please also ensure the "Save password" box is checked.

Randy,

If you can email us with information on how we can remote into your server (Remote Destop, VPN, PCAnywhere, etc), we can try to access your server to see what we can do.