Splunk DB Connect 2: Why am I getting this connection validation error?

Hi, Why am I getting below error? Validating connection with URL [jdbc:sqlserver://xx.xx.xx.xx:1433;databaseName=ABC;selectMethod=cursor] failed: java.sql.SQLException:,Cannot create PoolableConnectionFactory (The TCP/IP connection to the host xx.xx.xx.xx, port 1433 has failed. Error: "connect timed out. Verify the connection properties. Make sure that an instance of SQL Server is running on the host and accepting TCP/IP connections at the port. Make sure that TCP connections to the port are not blocked by a firewall.".)