如何使用mssql连接到远程MS SQL Server

Trying to connect to a remote MS SQL server from a goDaddy server. The server I am trying to connect from does not have the PDO driver for SQL Server. The only option I saw was using mssql. My connction code is as follows

$server = 'xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx,1433'; //public IP of the SQL server

// Connect to MSSQL
$link = mssql_connect($server, 'username', '*******');

if (!$link) {
    die(mssql_get_last_message());
}

The connects fails every time. Error Unable to connect to server. There is a firewall in place on the Server host SQL Server but I whitelisted the goDaddy IP so that should not be an issue. Also not seeing anything hit the firewall when I try the script.

Any advice would be welcome.

Actually resolved it. GoDaddy gave you the ability to add mssql in the C-panel php settings but didn't actually have the drivers installed. So no connection was ever attempted with remote server