Related
I have created a web service which is saving some data into to db. But I am getting this error:
Cannot open database "test" requested by the login. The login failed. Login failed for user 'xyz\ASPNET'.
My connection string is
Data Source=.\SQLExpress;Initial Catalog=IFItest;Integrated Security=True
Well, the error is pretty clear, no? You are trying to connect to your SQL Server with user "xyz/ASPNET" - that's the account your ASP.NET app is running under.
This account is not allowed to connect to SQL Server - either create a login on SQL Server for that account, or then specify another valid SQL Server account in your connection string.
Can you show us your connection string (by updating your original question)?
UPDATE: Ok, you're using integrated Windows authentication --> you need to create a SQL Server login for "xyz\ASPNET" on your SQL Server - or change your connection string to something like:
connectionString="Server=.\SQLExpress;Database=IFItest;User ID=xyz;pwd=top$secret"
If you have a user "xyz" with a password of "top$secret" in your database.
Either: "xyz\ASPNET" is not a login (in sys.server_principals)
Or: "xyz\ASPNET" is set up but not mapped to a user in the database test (sys.database_principals)
I'd go for the 2nd option: the error message implies the default database is either not there or no rights in it, rather than not set up as a login.
To test if it's set up as a login
SELECT SUSER_ID('xyz\ASPNET') -- (**not** SUSER_SID)
If NULL
CREATE LOGIN [xyz\ASPNET] FROM WINDOWS
If not NULL
USE test
GO
SELECT USER_ID('xyz\ASPNET')
If NULL
USE test
GO
CREATE USER [xyz\ASPNET] FROM LOGIN [xyz\ASPNET]
I had this problem and what solved it for me was to:
Go to the Application pools in the IIS
Right click on my project application pool
In Process Model section open Identity
Choose Custom account option
Enter your pc user name and password.
For me the database was not created and EF code first should have created it but always endet in this error. The same connection string was working in aspnet core default web project. The solution was to add
_dbContext.Database.EnsureCreated()
before the first database contact (before DB seeding).
The best solution for the login problem is to create a login user in sqlServer. Here are the steps to create a SQL Server login that uses Windows Authentication (SQL Server Management Studio):
In SQL Server Management Studio, open Object Explorer and expand the folder of
the server instance in which to create the new login.
Right-click the Security folder, point to New, and then click Login.
On the General page, enter the name of a Windows user in the Login name box.
Select Windows Authentication.
Click OK.
For example, if the user name is xyz\ASPNET, then enter this name into Login name Box.
Also you need to change the User mapping to allow access to the Database which you want to access.
Most times, it's not a login issue, but an issue with creating the database itself. So if there is an error creating your database, it would not be created in the first place. In which case if you tried to log in, regardless of the user, login would fail. This usually happens due to logical misinterpretation of the db context.
Visit the site in a browser and REALLY read those error logs, this can help you spot the problem with you code (usually conflicting logic problems with the model).
In my case, the code compiled fine, same login problem, while I was still downloading management studio, I went through the error log, fixed my db context constraints and site started running fine....meanwhile management studio is still downloading
This Works for me.
Go to SQL Server >> Security >> Logins and right click on NT AUTHORITY\NETWORK SERVICE and select Properties
In newly opened screen of Login Properties, go to the “User Mapping” tab.
Then, on the “User Mapping” tab, select the desired database – especially the database for which this error message is displayed.
Click OK.
Read this blog.
http://blog.sqlauthority.com/2009/08/20/sql-server-fix-error-cannot-open-database-requested-by-the-login-the-login-failed-login-failed-for-user-nt-authoritynetwork-service/
It also happen when you type wrong name of DB
ex : xxx-db-dev to xxx-dev-db
Sometime, it's just a stupid mistake . I take about more than 1 hours to find out this :( because i just try alot of difficult thing first
The Issue
The error presents itself as a message similar to this:
Cannot open database "DATABASE NAME" requested by the login. The login
failed. Login failed for user XYZ.
The error cannot usually be rectified by a simple Visual Studio or full-computer restart.
The error can also be found as a seemingly locked database file.
The Fix
The solution is laid in the following steps. You will not lose any data in your database and you should not delete your database file!
Pre-requisite: You must have installed SQL Server Management Studio (Full or Express)
Open SQL Server Management Studio
In the "Connect to Server" window (File->Connect object explorer) enter the following:
Server type : Database Engine
Server name : (localdb)\v11.0
Authentication : [Whatever you used when you created your local db. Probably Windows Authentication).
Click "Connect"
Expand the "Databases" folder in the Object Explorer (View->Object Explorer, F8)
Find your database. It should be named as the full path to your database (.mdf) file
You should see it says "(Pending Recovery)" at the end of the database name or when you try to expand the database it won't be able to and may or may not give you an error message.
This the issue! Your database has crashed essentially..
Right click on the database then select "Tasks -> Detach...".
In the detach window, select your database in the list and check the column that says "Drop Connections"
Click OK.
You should see the database disappear from the list of databases. Your problem should now be fixed. Go and run your application that uses your localdb.
After running your application, your database will re-appear in the list of databases - this is correct. It should not say "Pending recovery" any more since it should be working properly.
The source of the solution: https://www.codeproject.com/Tips/775607/How-to-fix-LocalDB-Requested-Login-failed
I tried to update the user, and it worked. See the command below.
USE ComparisonData// databaseName
EXEC sp_change_users_login #Action='update_one', #UserNamePattern='ftool',#LoginName='ftool';
Just replace user('ftool') accordingly.
I had this problem when I created a WPF .NET Core + Entity Framework Core project and then cloning it on a a new laptop.
Using:
update-database
in the package manager console simply solved it.
To open package manager console go to:
Tools-> Nuget Package Manager -> Package Manager console
I used Windows authentication to connect to local database .mdf file and
my local server was sql server 2014.
My problem solved using this connection string:
string sqlString = " Data Source = (LocalDB)\\MSSQLLocalDB;" + "AttachDbFilename = F:\\.........\\myDatabase.mdf; Integrated Security = True; Connect Timeout = 30";
In my case it is a different issue. The database turned into single user mode and a second connection to the database was showing this exception.
To resolve this issue follow below steps.
Make sure the object explorer is pointed to a system database like master.
Execute a exec sp_who2 and find all the connections to database ‘my_db’. Kill all the connections by doing KILL { session id } where session id is the SPID listed by sp_who2.
USE MASTER;
EXEC sp_who2
Alter the database
USE MASTER;
ALTER DATABASE [my_db] SET MULTI_USER
GO
I ran into this issue when attempting to write to the default database provided in the asp.net mvc template. This was due to the fact that the database hadn't been created yet.
To create the database and make sure that it is accessible follow these steps:
Open up the Package manager console in Visual Studio
Run the command "update-database"
This will create the database an run all the necessary migrations on it.
I have not seen this mentioned in the previous issues, so let me throw out another possibility. It could be that IFItest is not reachable or simply does not exist. For example, if one has a number of configurations, each with its own database, it could be that the database name was not changed to the correct one for the current configuration.
NB: If using a windows service to host the webservice.
You have to insure that your webservice is using the right Log on account to connect to SQL Server.
Open services(I assume the windows service has been install)
Right click on the service and goto properties.
Click on "Log On" Tab
Click on "This account" radio button
Click "Browse"
Enter Pc user name in Text Field and click "Check Name" Button to the right.
Click on text in Text Field, press "OK" button
enter login password and Apply
Inspired by cyptus's answer I used
_dbContext.Database.CreateIfNotExists();
on EF6 before the first database contact (before DB seeding).
If you haven't created the database in your server you will get the same login error.Make sure that the database exist before you login.
it's not a login issue most times. The database might not have been created. To create the database, Go to db context file and add this.Database.EnsureCreated();
The best option would be to use Windows integrated authentication as it is more secure than sql authentication. Create a new windows user in sql server with necessary permissions and change IIS user in the application pool security settings.
I found that I also had to set the UserMapping option when creating a new login and this solved the problem for me. Hope that helps anyone that also found themselves stuck here!
Edit: Setting the login as db owner solved the next problem, too
Some times this trouble may appear if you open this db in another sql server (as example, you launch sql managment studio(SMS) and add this db), and forget stop this server. As result - you app try to connect with user already connected in this db under another server. To fix that, try stop this server by Config. dispatcher sql server.
My apologies about bad english.
Kind regards, Ignat.
In my case the asp.net application can usually connect to database without any problems. I noticed such message in logs. I turn on the SQL server logs and I find out this message:
2016-10-28 10:27:10.86 Logon Login failed for user '****'. Reason: Failed to open the explicitly specified database '****'. [CLIENT: <local machine>]
2016-10-28 10:27:13.22 Server SQL Server is terminating because of a system shutdown. This is an informational message only. No user action is required.
So it seems that server was restarting and that SQL server whad been shutting down a bit earlier then ASP.NET application and the database was not available for few seconds before server restart.
Even if you've set the login as DB owner and set the user mapping for the database that will use the login, check that the actual DB user (not just the login) has the role of 'owner'.
In my case, I was running a Windows Service under "System" identity. The error was:
System.Data.SqlClient.SqlException (0x80131904):
Cannot open database "MyDbName" requested by the login. The login failed.
Login failed for user 'MYDOMAINNAME\HOSTNAME$'.
The problem is that the error is very misleading. Even after I added 'MYDOMAINNAME\HOSTNAME$' login to the database, and granted this login sysadmin access and added a user for that login on my target database, and made that user dbowner, I was still getting the same error.
Apparently I needed to do the same for 'NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM' login. After I did that, I was able to login without a problem. I don't know why the error message complains about 'MYDOMAINNAME\HOSTNAME$'. I deleted that login and the corresponding user and everything still works.
When using EF Code First, make sure the database exists. You could run the update-database command first.
If none of the above solution is working.
I encountered with the same error message but my issue was completely different. I had just restore my database and the database was in restoring mode. So if your database is in rstoring mode just apply following query.
RESTORE DATABASE MyDatabase
FROM DISK = 'pathToYourDbBackup\MyDatabase.bak'
WITH REPLACE,RECOVERY
I had this happen to me when I deleted the DB and forgot to recreate it. It happens sometimes, since Database folder needs refresh.
If you didn't have any problems before and you get this error only in the package manager console, you don't need to do anything special. Just open the sql server object explorer window and connect and run the command again in the console.
I've got a local WCF web service project that I'm trying to get to access my database. This is my setup:
SQLServer 2008 R2 Express
IIS 7.5
Using IIS APPPOOL\MyAppPool application pool
The AppPool is set to target .Net 4.0 and its identity is set to ApplicationPoolIdentity.
The AppPool user is added in the database and has been assigned dataReader and dataWriter rights. I've tried adding the user to the database both as a "Login" under Security\Logins and as a user under MyDatabase\Security\Users.
Since I'll eventually switch to sql server authentication, I also tried using a real windows user that I assigned reader/writer rights in the database.
I then tried converting the ApplicationPool's identity to NetworkService and added the NT AUTHORITY\NETWORK SERVICE user to the DB aswell but with equal lack of success.
This is the connection string that I'm currently using (With integrated security):
Server=.\SQLEXPRESS;Database=MyDatabase;Integrated Security=true"
As soon as I try to interact with the database in my web service code I get this error:
System.Data.SqlClient.SqlException: Cannot open database "MyDatabase" requested by the login. The login failed. Login failed
for user 'IIS APPPOOL\MyAppPool'.
When using other users than the ApplicationPool then their user names are displayed instead of the IIS APPPOOL one.
Does anyone have any idea what I could've missed?
UPDATE:
With some help from Oded and Tomek I'm now pretty sure that it has to do with the SQL Server. When using SQL Server Authentication I get this error (In the windows event log)
Reason: An attempt to login using SQL authentication failed. Server is configured for Windows authentication only.>
Using Integrated Security (IIS APPPOOL\MyAppPool user) I get this error in the event log
Reason: Failed to open the explicitly specified database.
The server is configured to use "SQL Server and Windows Authentication mode" though which puzzles me. It seems like the second message simply means that the credentials were wrong, which also seems weird since the AppPool user does not have a password. Using the script posted by guptam in post 6 here: http://www.sqlteam.com/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=121202 does NOT show my IISAPPPOOL user nor the one created for SQLServer Authentication. The users do exist under both Login and Users and they have the correct rights assigned.
The connection string should be:
"Server=.\SQLEXPRESS;Database=MyDatabase;Integrated Security=SSPI;"
The value for Integrated Security is SSPI, not True.
There is an alternative syntax:
"Server=.\SQLEXPRESS;Database=MyDatabase;Trusted_Connection=True;"
The key here is Trusted_Connection, not Integrated Security.
I suggest taking a look at connectionstrings.com - a good resource for correct connection strings.
Go to your IIS Manager -> ApplicationPool. Right Click your website ApplicationPool and chose Advance Settings. And change Identity to LocalSystem.
Reference
Can you try these steps (some steps of your description are a bit unclear). Let's try to use "sql server authentication"
Create Login Security->Logins, mark "sql server authentication", provide password, untick "user mast change password at next login"
Select "default database" to the one you use
Go to "User Mapping" page and select your database
Use below connection string with user you just configured
connectionString="Data Source=YourDbServerName;Initial Catalog=YourDbName;User ID=YourLogin;Password=YourPass"
I eventually decided to reinstall SSMS and to recreate my database from scratch. It's now up and running as it should. I must've had something fundamentally wrong in some basic setting. Sry for all the confusion and thx for all the help!
I have created a web service which is saving some data into to db. But I am getting this error:
Cannot open database "test" requested by the login. The login failed. Login failed for user 'xyz\ASPNET'.
My connection string is
Data Source=.\SQLExpress;Initial Catalog=IFItest;Integrated Security=True
Well, the error is pretty clear, no? You are trying to connect to your SQL Server with user "xyz/ASPNET" - that's the account your ASP.NET app is running under.
This account is not allowed to connect to SQL Server - either create a login on SQL Server for that account, or then specify another valid SQL Server account in your connection string.
Can you show us your connection string (by updating your original question)?
UPDATE: Ok, you're using integrated Windows authentication --> you need to create a SQL Server login for "xyz\ASPNET" on your SQL Server - or change your connection string to something like:
connectionString="Server=.\SQLExpress;Database=IFItest;User ID=xyz;pwd=top$secret"
If you have a user "xyz" with a password of "top$secret" in your database.
Either: "xyz\ASPNET" is not a login (in sys.server_principals)
Or: "xyz\ASPNET" is set up but not mapped to a user in the database test (sys.database_principals)
I'd go for the 2nd option: the error message implies the default database is either not there or no rights in it, rather than not set up as a login.
To test if it's set up as a login
SELECT SUSER_ID('xyz\ASPNET') -- (**not** SUSER_SID)
If NULL
CREATE LOGIN [xyz\ASPNET] FROM WINDOWS
If not NULL
USE test
GO
SELECT USER_ID('xyz\ASPNET')
If NULL
USE test
GO
CREATE USER [xyz\ASPNET] FROM LOGIN [xyz\ASPNET]
I had this problem and what solved it for me was to:
Go to the Application pools in the IIS
Right click on my project application pool
In Process Model section open Identity
Choose Custom account option
Enter your pc user name and password.
For me the database was not created and EF code first should have created it but always endet in this error. The same connection string was working in aspnet core default web project. The solution was to add
_dbContext.Database.EnsureCreated()
before the first database contact (before DB seeding).
The best solution for the login problem is to create a login user in sqlServer. Here are the steps to create a SQL Server login that uses Windows Authentication (SQL Server Management Studio):
In SQL Server Management Studio, open Object Explorer and expand the folder of
the server instance in which to create the new login.
Right-click the Security folder, point to New, and then click Login.
On the General page, enter the name of a Windows user in the Login name box.
Select Windows Authentication.
Click OK.
For example, if the user name is xyz\ASPNET, then enter this name into Login name Box.
Also you need to change the User mapping to allow access to the Database which you want to access.
Most times, it's not a login issue, but an issue with creating the database itself. So if there is an error creating your database, it would not be created in the first place. In which case if you tried to log in, regardless of the user, login would fail. This usually happens due to logical misinterpretation of the db context.
Visit the site in a browser and REALLY read those error logs, this can help you spot the problem with you code (usually conflicting logic problems with the model).
In my case, the code compiled fine, same login problem, while I was still downloading management studio, I went through the error log, fixed my db context constraints and site started running fine....meanwhile management studio is still downloading
This Works for me.
Go to SQL Server >> Security >> Logins and right click on NT AUTHORITY\NETWORK SERVICE and select Properties
In newly opened screen of Login Properties, go to the “User Mapping” tab.
Then, on the “User Mapping” tab, select the desired database – especially the database for which this error message is displayed.
Click OK.
Read this blog.
http://blog.sqlauthority.com/2009/08/20/sql-server-fix-error-cannot-open-database-requested-by-the-login-the-login-failed-login-failed-for-user-nt-authoritynetwork-service/
It also happen when you type wrong name of DB
ex : xxx-db-dev to xxx-dev-db
Sometime, it's just a stupid mistake . I take about more than 1 hours to find out this :( because i just try alot of difficult thing first
The Issue
The error presents itself as a message similar to this:
Cannot open database "DATABASE NAME" requested by the login. The login
failed. Login failed for user XYZ.
The error cannot usually be rectified by a simple Visual Studio or full-computer restart.
The error can also be found as a seemingly locked database file.
The Fix
The solution is laid in the following steps. You will not lose any data in your database and you should not delete your database file!
Pre-requisite: You must have installed SQL Server Management Studio (Full or Express)
Open SQL Server Management Studio
In the "Connect to Server" window (File->Connect object explorer) enter the following:
Server type : Database Engine
Server name : (localdb)\v11.0
Authentication : [Whatever you used when you created your local db. Probably Windows Authentication).
Click "Connect"
Expand the "Databases" folder in the Object Explorer (View->Object Explorer, F8)
Find your database. It should be named as the full path to your database (.mdf) file
You should see it says "(Pending Recovery)" at the end of the database name or when you try to expand the database it won't be able to and may or may not give you an error message.
This the issue! Your database has crashed essentially..
Right click on the database then select "Tasks -> Detach...".
In the detach window, select your database in the list and check the column that says "Drop Connections"
Click OK.
You should see the database disappear from the list of databases. Your problem should now be fixed. Go and run your application that uses your localdb.
After running your application, your database will re-appear in the list of databases - this is correct. It should not say "Pending recovery" any more since it should be working properly.
The source of the solution: https://www.codeproject.com/Tips/775607/How-to-fix-LocalDB-Requested-Login-failed
I tried to update the user, and it worked. See the command below.
USE ComparisonData// databaseName
EXEC sp_change_users_login #Action='update_one', #UserNamePattern='ftool',#LoginName='ftool';
Just replace user('ftool') accordingly.
I had this problem when I created a WPF .NET Core + Entity Framework Core project and then cloning it on a a new laptop.
Using:
update-database
in the package manager console simply solved it.
To open package manager console go to:
Tools-> Nuget Package Manager -> Package Manager console
I used Windows authentication to connect to local database .mdf file and
my local server was sql server 2014.
My problem solved using this connection string:
string sqlString = " Data Source = (LocalDB)\\MSSQLLocalDB;" + "AttachDbFilename = F:\\.........\\myDatabase.mdf; Integrated Security = True; Connect Timeout = 30";
In my case it is a different issue. The database turned into single user mode and a second connection to the database was showing this exception.
To resolve this issue follow below steps.
Make sure the object explorer is pointed to a system database like master.
Execute a exec sp_who2 and find all the connections to database ‘my_db’. Kill all the connections by doing KILL { session id } where session id is the SPID listed by sp_who2.
USE MASTER;
EXEC sp_who2
Alter the database
USE MASTER;
ALTER DATABASE [my_db] SET MULTI_USER
GO
I ran into this issue when attempting to write to the default database provided in the asp.net mvc template. This was due to the fact that the database hadn't been created yet.
To create the database and make sure that it is accessible follow these steps:
Open up the Package manager console in Visual Studio
Run the command "update-database"
This will create the database an run all the necessary migrations on it.
I have not seen this mentioned in the previous issues, so let me throw out another possibility. It could be that IFItest is not reachable or simply does not exist. For example, if one has a number of configurations, each with its own database, it could be that the database name was not changed to the correct one for the current configuration.
NB: If using a windows service to host the webservice.
You have to insure that your webservice is using the right Log on account to connect to SQL Server.
Open services(I assume the windows service has been install)
Right click on the service and goto properties.
Click on "Log On" Tab
Click on "This account" radio button
Click "Browse"
Enter Pc user name in Text Field and click "Check Name" Button to the right.
Click on text in Text Field, press "OK" button
enter login password and Apply
Inspired by cyptus's answer I used
_dbContext.Database.CreateIfNotExists();
on EF6 before the first database contact (before DB seeding).
If you haven't created the database in your server you will get the same login error.Make sure that the database exist before you login.
it's not a login issue most times. The database might not have been created. To create the database, Go to db context file and add this.Database.EnsureCreated();
The best option would be to use Windows integrated authentication as it is more secure than sql authentication. Create a new windows user in sql server with necessary permissions and change IIS user in the application pool security settings.
I found that I also had to set the UserMapping option when creating a new login and this solved the problem for me. Hope that helps anyone that also found themselves stuck here!
Edit: Setting the login as db owner solved the next problem, too
Some times this trouble may appear if you open this db in another sql server (as example, you launch sql managment studio(SMS) and add this db), and forget stop this server. As result - you app try to connect with user already connected in this db under another server. To fix that, try stop this server by Config. dispatcher sql server.
My apologies about bad english.
Kind regards, Ignat.
In my case the asp.net application can usually connect to database without any problems. I noticed such message in logs. I turn on the SQL server logs and I find out this message:
2016-10-28 10:27:10.86 Logon Login failed for user '****'. Reason: Failed to open the explicitly specified database '****'. [CLIENT: <local machine>]
2016-10-28 10:27:13.22 Server SQL Server is terminating because of a system shutdown. This is an informational message only. No user action is required.
So it seems that server was restarting and that SQL server whad been shutting down a bit earlier then ASP.NET application and the database was not available for few seconds before server restart.
Even if you've set the login as DB owner and set the user mapping for the database that will use the login, check that the actual DB user (not just the login) has the role of 'owner'.
In my case, I was running a Windows Service under "System" identity. The error was:
System.Data.SqlClient.SqlException (0x80131904):
Cannot open database "MyDbName" requested by the login. The login failed.
Login failed for user 'MYDOMAINNAME\HOSTNAME$'.
The problem is that the error is very misleading. Even after I added 'MYDOMAINNAME\HOSTNAME$' login to the database, and granted this login sysadmin access and added a user for that login on my target database, and made that user dbowner, I was still getting the same error.
Apparently I needed to do the same for 'NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM' login. After I did that, I was able to login without a problem. I don't know why the error message complains about 'MYDOMAINNAME\HOSTNAME$'. I deleted that login and the corresponding user and everything still works.
When using EF Code First, make sure the database exists. You could run the update-database command first.
If none of the above solution is working.
I encountered with the same error message but my issue was completely different. I had just restore my database and the database was in restoring mode. So if your database is in rstoring mode just apply following query.
RESTORE DATABASE MyDatabase
FROM DISK = 'pathToYourDbBackup\MyDatabase.bak'
WITH REPLACE,RECOVERY
I had this happen to me when I deleted the DB and forgot to recreate it. It happens sometimes, since Database folder needs refresh.
If you didn't have any problems before and you get this error only in the package manager console, you don't need to do anything special. Just open the sql server object explorer window and connect and run the command again in the console.
I am always doing the following Login module:
Create a table with Username and Password
Login by checking the user table.
So how do I use integrated Login just like the application like Sql Server? I don't mean by passing a connection string, I mean it will check the credential of my application without putting any username and password.
Thanks
EDIT:
I don't mean the SQL Server integrated Login, I mean my application's integrated login, is it possible?
For example, my application will read the AD's name and compare to the current username, then I don't need the user to type in a password for my application.
I am not sure how do I do that and where to start, since if I search Integrated Login, 99.9% of the results from Google will give me the connection string, which I am not looking for that.
[This answer assumes that you're on an Active Directory domain]
Are you using active directory windows authentication? If this is the case you can use the integrated security option in the connection string.
Here's an example connection string using integrated security:
"Data Source=MyServer;Initial Catalog=db name;Integrated Security=True"
This would reduce the complexity allowing you to forget about having to ask the user for a username and password because it'll pick up the windows credentials that they've logged into the workstation with.
Edit:
If the application is a website then you'll need to set the SQL server as "trusted for delegation" in active directory (see http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa905162(SQL.80).aspx). This will allow the webserver to delegate the user's windows login credentials to the SQL server. If you don't do this then the SQL connection will be anonymous.
Assuming that your application will be running with Active Directory on the local network I think there are a few options, depending on how do you want to implement authorization.
If you want/need to do authorization with some custom rules/logic then the first thing you need is to determine who ran the application:
Environment.UserName in conjunction with Environment.UserDomainName will give you enough information;
Alternatively (and more secure) you have use the following code snippet:
AppDomain.CurrentDomain.SetPrincipalPolicy(
System.Security.Principal.PrincipalPolicy.WindowsPrincipal);
var identity = Thread.CurrentPrincipal.Identity;
From the identity you can extract Security Identifier which is designed to be globally unique. (But not that pretty as domain\username pair.)
After getting current user's name you can apply whatever authorization rules you want.
I am deploying a Windows Application that uses SQL Server 2005. The program will use SQL Authentication.
My question is, how do you handle the connection string when you don't know what the username/password will be? Do you load this from an encrypted file? Or are there provisions for handling this already?
If the user will provide their login details (username and password) then you just need to provide the ability to enter them in your app, e.g. show a dialog asking for these details. You can then use those values the user gives to build the connection string in your code.
Alternatively, if all your users are going to be using a single SQL account to connect then you can put the connection string in your app.config file using encryption if you want to hide it from your users, see cmsjr's answer for an example of how to do this.
Alternatively, if you're developing this on an internal domain (intranet) then switch your database to integrated security and put your users domain accounts into the relevant access group on your database server. Then you won't have to worry about collecting username or passwords at all.
If the enduser will provide the password you don't need to do anything, dont save the usernamne/password in the config file.
If you don't want the end user to provide the password you could put it in the config file at installation. But that could be a problem if the username needs to be changed and you have encrypted the connectionstring.
Encrypting sections of the configuration is not as simple for a windows app as for a web app, but it is certainly doable. Here's a sample.
Just make sure to check the username/password for "weird" characters that the user might enter. The last thing you want is for them to change around your connection string. Then basically you just specify the driver (if using ODBC), the database, the server, but leave all the username/password and trusted connection info out. Then just tack on username= and password= which will be set equal to what was entered by the user on the end. However watch out for semicolons. I've never tried to see what happens if there is both a username/password and a trusted_connection = true.