I'm current running a small WSS3.0 farm.Farm Topology: exchange.company.net Windows SharePoint Services Outgoing E-Mail dbserver.company.net Windows SharePoint Services Database sharept.company.net Central Administration Windows SharePoint Services Incoming E-Mail Windows SharePoint Services Search Windows SharePoint Services Web ApplicationI would like to add another machine as a front-end in case something were to happen to sharept.company.net or there was planned maintance on that machine so that the sharepoint service would not go down.I setup a clean Windows 2003 install, updated to SP2, installed IIS, installed .NET 3.0, installed SharePoint Services 3.0 and updated WSS to SP1.Now when I try to configure it I choose "Yes, I want to connect to an existing farm." For the configuration server I put "exchange-server-name\instance-name" and click "Retreive database names." It automatically fills out the database name and user correctly (what I used for the sharept.company.net installation).It gets to step 2 and fails. I get the following error:"Failed to connect to the configuration database. An exception of type System.Security.SecurityException was thrown. Additional exception information: Access denied."I can ping the machine that has the SQL database on it from the server I am attempting to install from, so there is no networking issue. I can also log into the SQL database using the username/password that I am giving the SharePoint config. It looks like the user just doesn't have permission to access the database, but I'ved used "Microsoft SQL Studio Management Express" to test the user and it can connect and see the database fine. I believe this was the same user I used when I installed the original sharepoint installation at sharept.company.net.I remember doing this before a few months back and I got this error a few times. What I did was just uninstall sharepoint, reinstall it, and it would work the second time around. I've tried that a few times already and I keep getting the same error message.Any ideas? Thanks.

What user are you logged in as while trying to run the install & config?

I am logged in as a domain administrator.

I'm in the same situation with one difference; I am using a 32 bit vpc and trying to join a farm based on 64 bit.

I tried creating a new farm instead of connecting to the existing one and the configuration finished successfully. It must be a problem with the current farm settings?

got it!!! I did not patch my wss 3.0 on the new Web Front End.... it was a bit suspenseful because it just sat on step 2 "connecting to database" for quite some time. then it took off.................................................................! amf

I was able to get it installed after updating to SP1.The installation went seemlessly, but now the frontend will not connect to the configuration database when trying to access the sharepoint site through it.In a browser when going to the new frontend it says: Cannot connect to the configuration database.In the system Event Log it says for this error: SQL database login failed. Additional error information from SQL Server is included below.Login failed for user 'DOMAIN\MACHINENAME$'.For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.It seems that the new frontend is trying to use its machine name to access the SQL database instead of the login name I gave it when I joined it to the farm.Has anyone seen this before?edit: Looked like it may have just been using the login from the application pool, which was 'Network Service'. I changed it as a test to be a network administrator (who can access the SQL server) and the error message when going to the site changed to "Service Unavailable". No errors are in the system Event Log.

hi, pls check your sharepoint versions in your farm and the server you supposed to add into the farm. They have to be the same patch level, otherwise you will see this error. Weina

Hi para0, You may change the Application Pool Identity to the domain admin account(which I believe is your domain admin account with which you have installed SharePoint). And also for checking the SQL and the SharePoint connectivity you can create a .udl file (by simply renaming the .txt file to .udl file. Right clicking the file you can select properties and check the connectivity.) Do let me know in case you've any questions. thanks,Srishti MCSE, MCTS (WSS 3.0/MOSS 2007/SP 2010)

Are you logged into the server using the domain administrator account or your account and then doing a run as? Login to the server using the domain administrator account and then try the same.