readpipe Command-line Utility

Tests the integrity of the network named pipe services, in conjunction with makepipe.

Syntax

readpipe /Sservername /Dstring [/n] [/q] [/w] [/t] [/p pipename] [/h]

where

/Sservername: Is the name of the SQL Server on which you just ran makepipe. Note that there are no spaces between /S and servername.
/Dstring: Is a test character string. Note that there are no spaces between /D and string.
/n: Specifies the number of iterations.
/q: Queries for incoming data (polling). Without /q, readpipe reads the pipe and waits for data.
/w: Specifies the wait time, in seconds, to pause while polling. The default is 0.
/t: Asks for Transact-SQL named pipes. This option overrides polling.
/p pipename: Is the name of the pipe. The default pipename is abc.
/h: Displays usage.

Remarks

This diagnostic utility checks to see if the named pipes are working. Use it (along with makepipe) if you cannot connect to SQL Server.

Because applications for Windows, Windows NT, and MS-DOS all run on Windows NT, you must be careful about which version of makepipe and readpipe you are running. You must use the version specific to the operating system on which you are testing the integrity of the named pipe.

After makepipe is started, the server waits for a client to connect. The readpipe command-line utility can then be run from other workstations. When all testing is complete, go to the screen where the makepipe program is still running and press CTRL+BREAK or CTRL+C to stop execution.