What are the steps to remotely manage my SQL Server 2022 or SQL Server 2025 database with SQL Server Management Studio? Print

This article covers the 3 steps needed to connect to your hosted Microsoft SQL Server database with Adaptive.

Step 1: Install SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)

1. Download and install the latest version of SQL Server Management Studio.

Step 2: Find your database information

1. When you create a database in the Plesk Control Panel you give it a name, a username and a password. That is what you connect with.
2. We have two SQL Servers, both on port 1433: sql2025-001.adaptivewebhosting.com (SQL Server 2025, used by all new accounts) and sql2022-001.adaptivewebhosting.com (SQL Server 2022). Plesk > Databases shows the server each database is on: MSSQLSERVER2025 means sql2025-001, MSSQLSERVER2022 means sql2022-001. A login only exists on its own server. Enter the name with the port, for example sql2025-001.adaptivewebhosting.com,1433.
3. Was your account set up with sql2022-002.adaptivewebhosting.com? Those databases moved to our SQL Server 2022. If Plesk shows MSSQLSERVER2022 for your database, connect with sql2022-001.adaptivewebhosting.com,1433. Connection strings that use sql2022-002.adaptivewebhosting.com,1443 keep working. Do not use sql2022-002 with port 1433: that reaches the SQL Server 2025 server, where your login does not exist, and the login fails.

Step 3: Connect to your database using SSMS

1. Launch Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio.
2. Server type: Database Engine.
3. Server name: the server from step 2, with the port.
4. Authentication: SQL Server Authentication.
5. Login and password: your database username and password from Plesk.
6. Click Connect.
7. Only the system databases are listed. To work with your database, click New Query and run USE [yourdatabase];. See Why are my MS SQL databases not listed in SSMS or Visual Studio? and Plesk's article MSSQL user cannot see databases in SQL Server Management Studio on Plesk for Windows.

Cannot connect at all? Check that the server name includes the port, that your login is the database user (not your Plesk login), and that your network allows outbound port 1433 (or 1443 if you connect to sql2022-002). Too many failed logins block your IP for a while; opening a ticket lifts the block.

If you have any questions, open a support ticket.