# Docker access to external SQL Server

**URL:** <https://forums.docker.com/t/docker-access-to-external-sql-server/89343>\
**Category:** General\
**Created:** [February 20, 2020, 12:05pm UTC](https://forums.docker.com/t/docker-access-to-external-sql-server/89343 "2020-02-20T12:05:05Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![iwcoetzer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/docker/user_avatar/forums.docker.com/iwcoetzer/32/26550_2.png) [@iwcoetzer](https://forums.docker.com/u/iwcoetzer)\
**Post date:** [February 20, 2020, 12:05pm UTC](https://forums.docker.com/t/docker-access-to-external-sql-server/89343/1 "2020-02-20T12:05:05Z")

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Hi  
I have created my first DOCKER container that is up and running.  
I have managed to mount a volume when I ran the container - so I can access files on the host.

Now I have written a program which - if run on the host - accesses a SQL Server instance successfully.

However, when I run the program inside the docker container - it cannot connect to the same SQL Server instance.

I have tried using the server name, the server ip and even adding ,1433 to the server name and server ip address - but still Docker container cannot connect to the SQL server?

What do i do - is there a special docker run instruction that i must invoke to give the container access to that external SQL Server?