A Dedicated Administrator Connection (DAC) for a database server is provided that allows a user with administrator privileges to connect to the database server when a connection by standard means fails. By allowing an administrator to connect to the server through the DAC, the administrator can resolve the issue despite the failure and bring back the server to a responsive state without requiring the server to be shut down and restarted. Additionally, support engineers, developers, etc. can use the DAC to diagnose a range of problems without the use of a debugger or requesting a repro while monitoring for issues.