Does SQL Server Exist

Hi All,

I am trying to write an application to install a product that my company has developed. As part of the install I want to perform some validation ie is IIS running is SQL 2000 running etc before installation. The application is in VB .net can anyone tell me if it is possible to check if SQL Server 2000 exists and is running?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Cheers,

SamBefore using SQL DMO or something to check the service state of SQL Server, why not issuing a simple command like "Select 1" to check whether the server is up or not. Of you want to check for the presence of a database you might issue the command:
Select 1 from master..sysdatabases Where name = 'YourDBNametoCheckfor'

HTH, Jens Suessmeyer|||i would first check if network is available, after check if the server (not sql database server) is on-line... and then check if database server is installed... i'm using this for now till i find something better
i open connection to the server for default database and if its not there (exception) then the sql server is either not runing or it's service is stoped...
hope this helps a bit.... its not perfect but it helps for now...
Private Function CheckServer() As Boolean
Try
Dim MyCnn As New SqlClient.SqlConnection(m_CnnString)
Dim MyCmd As New SqlClient.SqlCommand
MyCnn.Open()
MyCnn.Close()
Return True
Catch ex As SqlException
Return False
Catch ex As Exception
Return False
End Try
End Function

and here i check if database with that name exists
Private Function CheckDb() As Boolean
Dim MyCnn As New SqlClient.SqlConnection(m_CnnString)
Dim MyCmd As New SqlClient.SqlCommand
MyCnn.Open()
With MyCmd
.Connection = MyCnn
'this line of code well sql query i found somewhere on this forums
.CommandText = "Select 1 from master..sysdatabases Where name = '" & m_dbName & "'"
.CommandType = CommandType.Text
End With
Try
Select Case (MyCmd.ExecuteScalar).ToString
Case 1
Return True
MyCnn.Close()
Exit Function
Case Else
Return False
MyCnn.Close()
Exit Function
End Select
Catch ex As NullReferenceException
Return False
MyCnn.Close()
Exit Function
End Try
MyCnn.Close()
End Function