Error establishing socket on MS SQL JDBC driver

Hi!

I'm a beginner in Java trying to learn JDBC.
I have downloaded and installed the MS SQL JDBC driver type 4. I've followed the tutorial and some code on the net and written the following program:

import java.sql.*;

public class DBWork{

      private Connection conn = null;

      public static void main(String args[]){

            DBWork work = new DBWork();
      }

      public DBWork(){
            try{
                  Class.forName("com.microsoft.jdbc.sqlserver.SQLServerDriver");
                  conn = DriverManager.getConnection("jdbc:microsoft:sqlserver://server123:1433;Database=Dbxyz;User=sa;Password=abc");
                  Statement stm = conn.createStatement();
                  ResultSet rs = stm.executeQuery("select * from ServiceAreas");
                  while (rs.next()){
                        System.out.println(rs.getString("AreaIdVc"));
                        System.out.println(rs.getString("Namevc"));
                  }
            }
            catch (ClassNotFoundException e1){
                  System.out.println("ClassNotFoundException: "+e1.getMessage());
            }
            catch (SQLException e2){
                  System.out.println("SQLException: " +e2.getMessage());
            }
            finally{
                  try{
                        if (conn != null){
                              conn.close();
                        }
                  }catch (SQLException e3){}
            }
      }
}

But I get the following error when I run the program. The error occurs on the DriverManager.getConnection line:

SQLException: [Microsoft][SQLServer 2000 Driver for JDBC]Error establishing socket.

I've searched the web extensively for a solution. Infact I put the port number '1433' after going through some forums. I have checked the port the SQL server is listening to and it is 1433. The error still persists.

Has anyone got a solution for this problem? I have already spent an entire day on this.

Thanks in advance.
Kameshwari.