SQL CE v3.5 SP1 Features

laxminro — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 11:58:00 GMT

Before we start, as usual the disclaimer holds J and plans may change.

SQL CE v3.5 SP1 is getting released with SQL Server 2008 and Visual Studio 2008 SP1.

Q: Why blog about a service pack, it is just part of life cycle?

A: There are some goodies that are coming along with this service pack. Hence, the blog post J

The goodies:

1) Case Sensitive Databases

2) Native 64-bit support

3) Platform Builder Integration (Catalog Items)

Legend:

Case Sensitive – CS, Case Insensitive – CI,

Windows Desktop Native 64-bit engine – win64

Windows Desktop Native 32-bit engine – win32

Case Sensitive Databases (a.k.a. Case Sensitive Collations):

With SQL CE v3.5 SP1 onwards, we now support case-sensitive databases. We have done things little different. The metadata like database object names (i.e. table name, column names, etc) are always case insensitive irrespective of the sensitivity of the database. The case sensitivity is applicable only to real user data. Also note that the case sensitivity is always at database level (not table or column or query level).

To create case sensitive database, add “Case Sensitive=true” to connection string. If you are an OLEDB developer, please use property DBPROP_SSCE_DBCASESENSITIVE.

If you want to know the case sensitivity of the database already created, use SqlCeConnection.GetDatabaseInfo API.

Merge Replication

You can Merge Replicate SQL CE DB in all four combinations of case sensitivity with SQL Server. That is,

SQL CE CI DB – SQL Server CI DB – Already supported

SQL CE CI DB – SQL Server CS DB – Already supported

SQL CE CS DB – SQL Server CI DB – New combination

SQL CE CS DB – SQL Server CS DB – New combination

However, in the cross combinations users have to be cognizant about the sensitivity mismatch and put the data in to the DB which is acceptable to both of the sync end-points in terms of constraints, indexes …etc.

ADO.NET Sync Services (aka: OCS)

This is not supported with case sensitivity. Though you can use CS DB with sync services, you cannot really have the rows that differ only in case with sync services. This is not tested and hence cannot guaranty.

Remote Data Access

RDA has been in maintenance mode for almost two versions and we don’t have any plans to make it work with new scenarios and so is not supported. It might work, but officially we don’t support it.

Tools

Both SQL Server 2008 Management Studio and Visual Studio 2008 SP1 can be used with CS DB. You can create SQL CE CS DB using these tools UI.

Compatibility FAQ

Question	Answer
Can I open a SQL CE v3.5 SP1 CI DB with SQL CE v3.5 RTM?	Yes
Can I open a SQL CE v3.5 SP1 CS DB with SQL CE v3.5 RTM?	No
Can I open a SQL CE v3.5 RTM CI DB with SQL CE v3.5 SP1?	Yes
Are win32 and win64 DBs interoperable? Means, win64 DB is operable by win32 engine, win32 DB is operable by win64 engine	Yes
Can we have a win32 and win64 engines opening the same DB at the same time?	Yes
Can we have a win32 and win64 engines opening the different DB at the same time?	Yes
Can we have a SQL CE v3.5 RTM and SQL CE v3.5 SP1 opening the same DB at the same time?	No^#1
Can we have a SQL CE v3.5 RTM and SQL CE v3.5 SP1 opening the different DB at the same time?	Yes
<Place holder for your question J>	Blocked on question post event!
<Place holder for your question J>	Blocked on question post event!

#1: Since, SQL CE v3.5 SP1 MSI always upgrades SQL CE v3.5 RTM MSI. So, this is not a user scenario when using MSI installation. However, if you have private deployments of SQL CE v3.5 RTM for your app and you are also using VS 2008 SP1 or SQL Server 2008 to operate on the database, then this is an important point to note and we recommend you to push SQL CE v3.5 SP1 bits in your private deployments to help the end user. Also there is a good chance that the private deployment to start working with central deployment because of CLR assembly binding semantics.

Native 64-bit Support

With SQL CE v3.5 SP1, we will be providing native 64-bit support. SQL CE v3.5 SP1 64-bit native engine would be available as a web download. We don’t have a different tooling support for our native 64-bit. Note that, you can still have a box with SSMS 2008 and our native 64-bit working on a same database. You really do not need a 64-bit tooling as databases are compatible.

Platform Builder Integration

SQL CE v3.5 SP1 would be available as a catalog item in Platform Builder Versions 5.0, 6.0.

Thanks for reading!

Laxmi Narsimha Rao Oruganti

SQL Server Compact Database File Security

laxminro — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 14:38:00 GMT

SQL Server Compact Database File Security

SQL Server Compact (SQL CE) supports password protecting the database file.

1) Password is a must to encrypt SQL CE database

2) When you create a SQL CE database with a password, it automatically gets encrypted

Now there have been many questions around on about the strength of the security. The strength of the database file security lies in the encryption and authentication algorithms used to protect it. Please keep your question of why authentication algorithm is required and why not just encryption algorithm sufficient enough in your mind only and I hope you agree with me on the fact that some details better be not open for the sake of better securityJ.

Now coming to what exactly are the algorithms used in what version is outlined in a table below:

Version	Encryption Mode	Encryption Algorithm	Authentication Algorithm	Provider
3.0	Not Applicable	RC4	MD5	PROV_RSA_FULL MS_ENHANCED_PROV
3.1	Not Applicable	RC4	MD5	PROV_RSA_FULL MS_ENHANCED_PROV
3.5	PPC2003 Compatibility	3DES	SHA1	PROV_RSA_FULL MS_ENHANCED_PROV
3.5	Engine Default	AES128	SHA1	PROV_RSA_AES MS_ENH_RSA_AES_PROV
3.5	Platform Default	If possible use Engine Default else fall back to PPC2003 Compatibility.
4.0	What do you want?	Tell my team

Laxmi's Blog : Release

SQL CE v3.5 SP1 Features

SQL Server Compact Database File Security

SQL Server Compact Database File Security