TCP/IP Sockets Clients
Microsoft® SQL Server™ supports client communication with the TCP/IP network protocol using standard Microsoft Windows® sockets.
Important The TCP/IP Sockets Net-Libraries have been tested extensively on supported platforms for connecting to instances of SQL Server. If you have purchased a non-TCP/IP Sockets network protocol from a third-party vendor and want to use it to connect to SQL Server, the connection should work if the protocol properly supports TCP/IP Sockets. However, the use of third-party TCP/IP protocols on these platforms is not guaranteed. You can test to see if your sockets are functioning by using the ping command from a command prompt.
Simplified System Administration Using DHCP and WINS
Microsoft Windows NT® version 3.5 or later provides easy administration of large TCP/IP networks by offering the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) service for automatic TCP/IP configuration, and the Windows Internet Name Service (WINS) for dynamic mapping of network names and addresses. This enables users to operate in large-scale TCP/IP networking environments with little administrative support.
If your network has a DHCP service and WINS, you can use SQL Server instance names to specify a connection to a server. If your network does not have these services, then you should specify the server using the IP address.
To configure a client to use TCP/IP (Client Network Utility)