Test-DbaLinkedServerConnection - Test failed if named pipe is not enabled

[andreasjordan]

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What error did you receive?

When running the test in my lab I get:

Running tests from 'C:\GitHub\dbatools\tests\Test-DbaLinkedServerConnection.Tests.ps1'
Describing Test-DbaLinkedServerConnection
 Context Parameter validation
   [+] Should have the expected parameters 12ms (2ms|10ms)

Describing Test-DbaLinkedServerConnection
 Context Function works
   [+] function returns results 22ms (1ms|21ms)
   [+] linked server name is correct 1ms (1ms|1ms)
   [-] connectivity is true 4ms (3ms|1ms)
    Expected strings to be the same, but they were different.
    Expected length: 7
    Actual length:   548
    Strings differ at index 0.
    Expected: 'Success'
    But was:  'Named Pipes Provider: Could not open a connection to SQL Server [2]. \r\nOLE DB provider "MSOLEDBSQL" for linked server "SQL03\SQL2022" returned message "Login timeout expired".\r\nOLE DB ...'
               ^
    at $results.Result | Should -Be 'Success', C:\GitHub\dbatools\tests\Test-DbaLinkedServerConnection.Tests.ps1:68
    at <ScriptBlock>, C:\GitHub\dbatools\tests\Test-DbaLinkedServerConnection.Tests.ps1:68
 Context Piping to function works
   [+] piping from Get-DbaLinkedServerConnection returns results 5ms (2ms|3ms)
   [+] linked server name is correct 2ms (1ms|1ms)
   [-] connectivity is true 3ms (2ms|1ms)
    Expected strings to be the same, but they were different.
    Expected length: 7
    Actual length:   548
    Strings differ at index 0.
    Expected: 'Success'
    But was:  'Named Pipes Provider: Could not open a connection to SQL Server [2]. \r\nOLE DB provider "MSOLEDBSQL" for linked server "SQL03\SQL2022" returned message "Login timeout expired".\r\nOLE DB ...'
               ^
    at $pipeResults.Result | Should -Be 'Success', C:\GitHub\dbatools\tests\Test-DbaLinkedServerConnection.Tests.ps1:87
    at <ScriptBlock>, C:\GitHub\dbatools\tests\Test-DbaLinkedServerConnection.Tests.ps1:87
Tests completed in 23.66s
Tests Passed: 5, Failed: 2, Skipped: 0, Inconclusive: 0, NotRun: 0

Steps to Reproduce

Just run the test.

Please confirm that you are running the most recent version of dbatools

current dev branch

Other details or mentions

No response

What PowerShell host was used when producing this error

Windows PowerShell (powershell.exe)

PowerShell Host Version

SQL Server Edition and Build number

All current versions

.NET Framework Version

[andreasjordan]

@claude please have a look at this issue.

[claude]

Claude finished @andreasjordan's task in 3m 54s —— View job • claude/issue-10324-20260405-1702 • Create PR ➔

---

Fix implemented

• Gather context on the issue
• Read test file and function implementation
• Understand root cause
• Implement fix
• Commit and push changes

Root cause: In tests/Test-DbaLinkedServerConnection.Tests.ps1, the linked server was created using MSOLEDBSQL without specifying a network protocol. When Named Pipes is disabled (a common configuration), the test's TestConnection() call fails with the named pipes error seen in the issue.

Fix: Added @datasrc=N'tcp:$target' to the sp_addlinkedserver calls for both the SQL 2025+ and non-AppVeyor cases. By specifying the data source with the tcp: prefix, the linked server is forced to connect over TCP/IP regardless of whether Named Pipes is enabled. The AppVeyor case (which uses SQLNCLI11 with @srvproduct=N'SQL Server') is left unchanged as it follows a different code path.

Changed file: tests/Test-DbaLinkedServerConnection.Tests.ps1 (lines 33 and 36)