Java DataBase Connectivity Problem with MS SQL Server 2005 from a Remote Server-Collection of common programming errors

I am writing a java code to connect with MS SQL Server 2005. MS SQL Server is on Remote server windows server 2003. I am trying the following code but i am unable to establish a connection:

import java.*;

public class Connect {
     private java.sql.Connection con = null;
     private final String url = "jdbc:sqlserver://";
     private final String serverName="xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx"; 
     private final String portNumber = "1433";
     private final String databaseName="myDb"; 
     private final String userName ="user1";
     private final String password = "xxxx";     
     private final String selectMethod = "cursor";

     // Constructor
     public Connect() {}

     private String getConnectionUrl() {
          return url+serverName+":"+portNumber+";databaseName="+databaseName+";selectMethod="+selectMethod+";";
     }

     private java.sql.Connection getConnection() {
          try {
              Class.forName("com.microsoft.sqlserver.jdbc.SQLServerDriver");
              con = java.sql.DriverManager.getConnection(getConnectionUrl(),userName,password);
               if(con!=null) System.out.println("Connection Successful!");
          } catch(Exception e) {
               e.printStackTrace();
               System.out.println("Error Trace in getConnection() : " + e.getMessage());
         }
          return con;
      }

     /*
          Display the driver properties, database details
     */

     public void displayDbProperties() {
                    System.out.println("Perform Operations ");

     }

     private void closeConnection() {
          try{
               if(con!=null)
                    con.close();
               con=null;
          }catch(Exception e){
               e.printStackTrace();
          }
     }
     public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception {
          Connect myDbTest = new Connect();
         // myDbTest.displayDbProperties();
     }
}

But I am getting following exceptions:

com.microsoft.sqlserver.jdbc.SQLServerException: The TCP/IP connection to the host  has failed. java.net.ConnectException: Connection refused: connect
        at com.microsoft.sqlserver.jdbc.SQLServerException.makeFromDriverError(Unknown Source)
Error Trace in getConnection() : The TCP/IP connection to the host  has failed. java.net.ConnectException: Connection refused: connect
Error: No active Connection

I am not getting where is the problem in the above code or do i need to do some setting to connect to remote server.

Please give me your valuable suggestion which can help me to overcome with this problem.

1. IMHO “Connection refused” means your database server is not visible from your application server.

   • Check IP address and port.
   • Check database connectivity directly from your database server (to avoid firewalls).
   • Check database connectivity from your application server.

   Hope this will help you

2. Make sure that your SQL Server is configured to use TCP/IP. Enable it from SQL Server’s Network Utility app. Also check there that the SQL Server is using port 1433 (IP Addresses – IPAll – TCP Port).

   Try to use “telnet 1433”. If it doesn’t connect you will not be able to establish a connection.

3. ALLOW THE CONNECTION FIRST IN WHICH PC YOUR SQL SERVER IS RUNNING… GO TO CONTROL PANEL–>ADMIN. TOOLS—>Windows Firewall with Advanced Security–>Inbounded rules–>new rule–>select port radio button –>next–>enter port 3306–>click next –>finally give the rule name like conn any…click finish