BCP in SQL command give NativeError = 2 when no -S parameter on local DB

Question

I have this command in SQL:

DECLARE @cmd NVARCHAR(4000)
DECLARE @pathAndFileName NVARCHAR(MAX)
DECLARE @result INT
SET @pathAndFileName = 'C:\Temp\file.csv'
SET @cmd = 'bcp "SELECT TOP 1 * FROM SomeDB.dbo.SomeTable" queryout "'
  + @pathAndFileName + '" -w -T -t; '       
EXEC @result = xp_cmdshell @cmd 
SELECT @result

and it outputs this:

SQLState = 08001, NativeError = 2 Error = [Microsoft][SQL Server Native Client 11.0]Named Pipes Provider: Could not open a connection to SQL Server [2]. 
SQLState = 08001, NativeError = 2 Error = [Microsoft][SQL Server Native Client 11.0]A network-related or instance-specific error has occurred while establishing a connection to SQL Server. Server is not found or not accessible. Check if instance name is correct and if SQL Server is configured to allow remote connections. For more information see SQL Server Books Online. 
SQLState = S1T00, NativeError = 0 Error = [Microsoft][SQL Server Native Client 11.0]Login timeout expired

@result is 1

It works only if I add -S parameter with server name and database name (like this -S "MYCOMPUTERNAME\DBINSTANCENAME").

But when I try this on remote server this works without -S parameter.

How can I setup my local DB, so I don't need -S anymore?

Answer 1

If you ommit -S then it will try the default, localhost unnamed instance:

-S server_name[ \instance_name]
Specifies the instance of SQL Server to which to connect. If no server is specified, the bcp utility connects to the default instance of SQL Server on the local computer.

From your example it seems you do have an instance name, so it will not be possible to connect w/o specifying the -S explicitly. Besides, your code will always be more portable and easier to troubleshoot if you take the extra steps of specifying the -S params explicitly. Use SERVERPROPERTY(MachineName) and SERVERPROPERTY(InstanceName), make sure the code is cluster aware.