Parallels Plesk Panel connecting to database server connection string

Question

I am using Entity Framework to access the data from my database. It's an MVC application and works fine locally. When I deploy the application on hosting (Parallels Plesk Panel, MS hosting) I get problems with accessing the SQL server instance. There are options in the cPanel which hold connection strings. LocalSqlServer:

data source=.\SQLEXPRESS;Integrated Security=SSPI;AttachDBFilename=|DataDirectory|aspnetdb.mdf;User Instance=true xContainer:metadata=res:///Models.x.csdl|res:///Models.x.ssdl|res://*/Models.x.msl;provider=System.Data.SqlClient;provider connection string=

When I upload the site xContainer is generated alone. I found the sql server's instance name and applied it to the data source. In my web.config file I am using the the xContainer. The code after this paragraph is what it seems logic to me to add after the connection string= in the xContainer.

I have tried this with various properties. Data source, initial catalog, and the other info are filled into the conn string (here I am showing only /).

Data Source=x;Initial Catalog=/;Persist Security Info=True;User ID=/;Password=/;MultipleActiveResultSets=True providerName=

The error I receive is that the sql server instance cannot be found. If I add the last piece of code to the container it tells that I don't have a providerName, After adding a providerName the string is deleted to the starting xContainer string:

metadata=res:///Models.x.csdl|res:///Models.x.ssdl|res://*/Models.x.msl;provider=System.Data.SqlClient;provider connection string=

Answer 1

The error I receive is that the **sql server instance cannot be found**.

So, what is the SQL instance name? :)

it maybe not ".\SQLEXPRESS" but ".\SQLEXPRESS2012" or even ".\MSSQLSERVER" or anything else.

Answer 2

You will need to Edit the Web.Config file manually. The ASP.NET Settings page will remove the providerName.

An example of a connection string using EntityClient is below. You can remove the metadata information if you're not using an Entity Model. You will notice the providerName is outside of the actual connectionString and is the reason you will need to edit the file manually.

connectionString="metadata=ModelInformation;provider=System.Data.SqlClient;provider connection string="data source=IP;initial catalog=DATABASE;User ID=USERNAME;Password=PASSWORD;multipleactiveresultsets=True;application name=EntityFramework"" providerName="System.Data.EntityClient"