MSSQL JDBC driver won't connect to mirror failoverPartner on first connect
<14>[APP]: INFO 20 Jul 2012 12:21:21,982 [main] net.sf.hibernate.connection.C3P0ConnectionProvider "C3P0 using driver: com.microsoft.sqlserver.jdbc.SQLServerDriver at URL: jdbc:sqlserver://PRINCIPAL;databaseName=APP_space;port=9999;failoverPartner=MIRRORDB"
<14>[APP]: INFO 20 Jul 2012 12:21:21,982 [main] net.sf.hibernate.connection.C3P0ConnectionProvider "Connection properties: {user=USERNAME, password=PASSWORD}"
<14>[APP]: INFO 20 Jul 2012 12:21:22,435 [main] net.sf.hibernate.transaction.TransactionFactoryFactory "Transaction strategy: net.sf.hibernate.transaction.JDBCTransactionFactory"
<14>[APP]: INFO 20 Jul 2012 12:21:22,450 [main] net.sf.hibernate.transaction.TransactionManagerLookupFactory "No TransactionManagerLookup configured (in JTA environment, use of process level read-write cache is not recommended)"
<12>[APP]: WARN 20 Jul 2012 12:29:17,279 [main] net.sf.hibernate.cfg.SettingsFactory "Could not obtain connection metadata"
<12>java.sql.SQLException: Connections could not be acquired from the underlying database!
<12>    at com.mchange.v2.sql.SqlUtils.toSQLException(SqlUtils.java:106)
<12>    at com.mchange.v2.c3p0.impl.C3P0PooledConnectionPool.checkoutPooledConnection(C3P0PooledConnectionPool.java:529)
<12>    at com.mchange.v2.c3p0.impl.AbstractPoolBackedDataSource.getConnection(AbstractPoolBackedDataSource.java:128)
<12>    at net.sf.hibernate.connection.C3P0ConnectionProvider.getConnection(C3P0ConnectionProvider.java:33)
<12>    at net.sf.hibernate.cfg.SettingsFactory.buildSettings(SettingsFactory.java:84)

<14>[APP]: INFO 20 Jul 2012 18:05:43,049 [main] net.sf.hibernate.connection.C3P0ConnectionProvider "C3P0 using driver: com.microsoft.sqlserver.jdbc.SQLServerDriver at URL: jdbc:sqlserver://PRINCIPALDB:9999;databaseName=APP_space;failoverPartner=MIRRORDB:9999"
<14>[APP]: INFO 20 Jul 2012 18:05:43,049 [main] net.sf.hibernate.connection.C3P0ConnectionProvider "Connection properties: {user=USERNAME, password=PASSWORD}"
<14>[APP]: INFO 20 Jul 2012 18:05:43,190 [main] com.mchange.v2.log.MLog "MLog clients using log4j logging."
<14>[APP]: INFO 20 Jul 2012 18:05:43,518 [main] com.mchange.v2.c3p0.C3P0Registry "Initializing c3p0-0.9.1.2 [built 21-May-2007 15:04:56; debug? true; trace: 10]"
<14>[APP]: INFO 20 Jul 2012 18:05:43,612 [main] net.sf.hibernate.transaction.TransactionFactoryFactory "Transaction strategy: net.sf.hibernate.transaction.JDBCTransactionFactory"
<14>[APP]: INFO 20 Jul 2012 18:05:43,612 [main] net.sf.hibernate.transaction.TransactionManagerLookupFactory "No TransactionManagerLookup configured (in JTA environment, use of process level read-write cache is not recommended)"
<14>[APP]: INFO 20 Jul 2012 18:05:43,658 [main] com.mchange.v2.c3p0.impl.AbstractPoolBackedDataSource "Initializing c3p0 pool... com.mchange.v2.c3p0.PoolBackedDataSource@616301db [ connectionPoolDataSource -> com.mchange.v2.c3p0.WrapperConnectionPoolDataSource@d6ed198b [ acquireIncrement -> 5, acquireRetryAttempts -> 30, acquireRetryDelay -> 1000, autoCommitOnClose -> false, automaticTestTable -> null, breakAfterAcquireFailure -> false, checkoutTimeout -> 0, connectionCustomizerClassName -> null, connectionTesterClassName -> com.mchange.v2.c3p0.impl.DefaultConnectionTester, debugUnreturnedConnectionStackTraces -> false, factoryClassLocation -> null, forceIgnoreUnresolvedTransactions -> false, identityToken -> 1bqq23w8o1a6dec41cwe1cd|20e1bfee, idleConnectionTestPeriod -> 100, initialPoolSize -> 10, maxAdministrativeTaskTime -> 0, maxConnectionAge -> 0, maxI...
<14>...dleTime -> 3600, maxIdleTimeExcessConnections -> 0, maxPoolSize -> 150, maxStatements -> 1000, maxStatementsPerConnection -> 0, minPoolSize -> 10, nestedDataSource -> com.mchange.v2.c3p0.DriverManagerDataSource@2c0fb781 [ description -> null, driverClass -> null, factoryClassLocation -> null, identityToken -> 1bqq23w8o1a6dec41cwe1cd|20360e46, jdbcUrl -> jdbc:sqlserver://PRINCIPALDB:9999;databaseName=APP_space;failoverPartner=MIRRORDB:9999, properties -> {user=******, password=******} ], preferredTestQuery -> select * from CLUSTERSAFETY, propertyCycle -> 0, testConnectionOnCheckin -> false, testConnectionOnCheckout -> false, unreturnedConnectionTimeout -> 0, usesTraditionalReflectiveProxies -> false; userOverrides: {} ], dataSourceName -> null, factoryClassLocation -> null, identityToken -> 1bqq23w8o1a6dec41cwe1cd|6f3e49a8, numHelperThreads -> 3 ]"
<12>[APP]: WARN 20 Jul 2012 18:06:03,644 [Timer-0] com.mchange.v2.async.ThreadPoolAsynchronousRunner "com.mchange.v2.async.ThreadPoolAsynchronousRunner$DeadlockDetector@37f844f7 -- APPARENT DEADLOCK!!! Creating emergency threads for unassigned pending tasks!"
<12>[APP]: WARN 20 Jul 2012 18:06:03,644 [Timer-0] com.mchange.v2.async.ThreadPoolAsynchronousRunner "com.mchange.v2.async.ThreadPoolAsynchronousRunner$DeadlockDetector@37f844f7 -- APPARENT DEADLOCK!!! Complete Status:
    Managed Threads: 3
    Active Threads: 3
    Active Tasks:
        com.mchange.v2.resourcepool.BasicResourcePool$AcquireTask@52783859 (com.mchange.v2.async.ThreadPoolAsynchronousRunner$PoolThread-#0)
        com.mchange.v2.resourcepool.BasicResourcePool$AcquireTask@52bb855b (com.mchange.v2.async.ThreadPoolAsynchronousRunner$PoolThread-#1)
        com.mchange.v2.resourcepool.BasicResourcePool$AcquireTask@153043cc (com.mchange.v2.asyn...
<12>...c.ThreadPoolAsynchronousRunner$PoolThread-#2)
    Pending Tasks:

Connection to principal server failed, trying the mirror server.
com.microsoft.sqlserver.jdbc.SQLServerException: The TCP/IP connection to the host MIRRORDB:9999, port 1433 has failed. Error: "null. 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.".
    at com.microsoft.sqlserver.jdbc.SQLServerException.makeFromDriverError(SQLServerException.java:190)

jdbc:sqlserver://MIRRORDB;databaseName=app_space;port=9999;