SQL 2005 breaks connections

Question

We have a SQL 2005 64-bit Enterprise server that likes to drop connections in Management Studio, and sometimes in other applications.  It seems to be a timeout issue because it takes at least a few minutes of inactivity, but it seems to be random.  Sometimes windows left open overnight are still connected, sometimes they disconnect if you go get a cup of coffee.  Any suggestions?

The error I get in Management Studio is:

An exception occurred while executing a Transact-SQL statement or batch.
(Microsoft.SqlServer.ConnectionInfo)
Additional Information:
A transport-level error has occurred when sending the request to the server.  (provider: TCP Provider, error: 0 - An existing connection was forcibly closed by the remote host.) (Microsoft SQL Server, Error: 10054)

When the server disconnects it closes all open connections, so it doesn't seem to be a per-connection timeout.

Answer 1

This is a known security issue that was introduced in win2k3 sp1.
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms189083.aspx