Can't connect to sql instance?

Question

So last year the DBA installed an SSAS Tabular instance on our windows 2019 server.

Today we got a question asking if we can also have a multidimentional instance.
I have converted the SSAS instance from tabular to multi-dimentional before by editting the msmdsrv.ini and changed DeploymentMode from 2 to 0, so i know thats possible.

However having another/separate instance on the same server? Im not too sure how that works...

Ive tried connecting to the server from SSMS and just like I'd do for a sql database instance, I sepcified the server and instance as such: server\MSSQLSERVER, where MSSQLSERVER is the default instance based on the properties i see.

However, i got an error:

If i specify ONLY server.com, the connection works.

So how come if i specify the default instance, MSSQLSERVER it doesnt connect?
Does this mean that another instance cannot be created? or basically, should i answer the question by saying "Its not possible to create a separate multi-dimensional instance on the same server"?

Answer 1

Hi Cataster-7485,
Sorry for my misunderstanding.
To connect to SSAS, for default instance, enter the server name by typing the name of the computer on which the server is running. You can specify the server using its network name or a fully-qualified domain name. For a named instance, the server name must be specified in this format: servername\instance name. An example of this naming convention might be ADV-SRV062\Finance for a server that has a network name of ADV-SRV062, where Analysis Services was installed as a named instance entitled Finance.
Please refer to https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/analysis-services/instances/connect-from-client-applications-analysis-services?view=asallproducts-allversions#connect-using-sql-server-management-studio-ssms.

Best Regards,
Amelia

Answer 2

Hi Cataster-7485,

To connect to Database Engine, for the default instance of SQL Server, the server name is the computer name or localhost or . or ip address of your machine; for a named instance of SQL Server, the server name is the <computer_name>\<instance_name>.
Please refer to this doc for more details.

Best Regards,
Amelia

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Answer 3

"MSSQLSERVER" is a pseudo instance name for unnamed (default) instance; remove it for server name and use only the machine name to connect to