This article describes how to configure "Named Instances" of SQL Server 2005 Express edition to use static ports.
If you have installed a "default instance" of SQL Server 2005 Express then this will be configured to listen on port 1433.
Unfortunately, the install set for SQL Server 2005 Express "defaults" to a named instance - which is to say that if you just click Next Next Next to install this, it will be installed as a named instance with the name of "SQLExpress" and, as such, will be configured to use dynamic ports (meaning it will randomly listen on different ports, making it very difficult to establish a connection with this database server, especially over a network).
In order to establish a connection to your SQL Server 2005 database server from ENT Server and ENT Report Forge, you will need to ensure that your SQL Server 2005 database server is configured to listen to a single, static port.
To verify whether your SQL Server 2005 Express database server is configured to use static ports or dynamic ports, please refer to: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/823938/
To configure your SQL Server 2005 database server to Listen on a Specific TCP Port please refer to: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms177440.aspx
