local connect to remote mssql database

[POP]

Is it possible to connect from the local server to a remote database? (mssql)

I am running XP and XAMPP (basic package) version 1.6.6a .

My connection string:

$db = mssql_connect("remote ip", "username", "pass") or die("Could not connect to the MSSQL server!");
mssql_select_db("dbname", $db) or die("Could not connect to the database!");

This works on my remote server but not locally. any suggestions?

Tx

[Wiedmann]

This works on my remote server but not locally

Why not? (error message, mssql_get_last_message, ...)

[POP]

error message: Unable to connect to server: ipaddress