If connecting to a database or estimate on a server seems to be taking an inordinate amount of time, try the 'tracert' command. Here's an example:
From a CMD prompt to the DB server:. c:>tracert 155.244.35.17
[where '155.244.35.17' is the server IP address]
This will display how long it takes for communication to happen over the network. Example of result would be as follows.
1 2ms <1ms <1ms
2 1ms 3ms <1ms.