The following story is true. The names have been changed to protect the incompetent.

Developer asks me to redeploy the database, but to be sure and deploy it to the “other SQLDEVSERVER/INSTANCE1.” I kind of didn’t hear this at first, so I went and deployed to the server and instance specified, SQLDEVSERVER/INSTANCE1. He calls me back and says that he can’t see the changes. I check my scripts and connections and the create date on the database. All good. I let him know. Well, he says, it’s still wrong. So I redeploy. It’s still wrong. He then reminds me, “Make sure you’re deploying to the other SQLDEVSERVER/INSTANCE1.”

At this point, I pick up that key word and tricky phrase. “What do mean, the other one. There’s only one instance name per server name.”

“Oh no,” he assures me, “all you have to do is put in SQLDEVSERVER/INSTANCE1,10001 and it connects to the other copy.”

I look, and sure enough, genius has been deploying his code to two different instances and didn’t know it. I explain how, substituting port numbers for instance names, changes the instance so that he was connecting to INSTANCE0, not INSTANCE1.

It took four passes through the explanation and I’m pretty sure he still doesn’t get it.