SQL Server (RSS)

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SQL Server 2005: How to debug login failures (18456, anyone?)
In my series of new posts on old topics, I decided to gather today several pieces of information that I think will help in debugging SQL Server login failures. Although most information should remain useful for future versions as well, some of it may Read More...
Posted 21 February 08 04:05 by lcris | 0 Comments   
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How to request features in Microsoft products
I want to address the topic of requesting feature changes in Microsoft products, to point to some tools that can help, and to describe ways to use those tools more effectively. This post is based on my experience working on customer requests while being Read More...
Posted 07 February 08 01:49 by lcris | 2 Comments   
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SQL Server 2005: How to debug errors in code that does encryption
Encryption builtin functions in SQL Server have no known issues and, if used properly, they will produce the expected results. However, if they are used incorrectly, it can be hard to figure out what exactly is the problem, so in this post I am going Read More...
Posted 31 January 08 12:36 by lcris | 0 Comments   
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SQL Server 2005: A great post by Aaron Morton about using MARS to access opened keys
Aaron Morton has a very interesting post and demo that show how MARS can be used to access keys temporarily opened by a procedure. This is a must-read for anyone that is interested in implementing custom restrictions around the use of encryption keys. Read More...
Posted 17 January 08 10:20 by lcris | 0 Comments   
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SQL Server 2005: Why you should not encrypt data with certificates
I often recommended to only encrypt data in SQL Server using symmetric keys and to reserve the use of asymmetric encryption for protection of symmetric keys and for signing. In this post, I will go in more detail about why asymmetric encryption is not Read More...
Posted 11 January 08 12:44 by lcris | 0 Comments   
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SQL Server 2005: How to determine the size of a column that will hold encrypted data
This issue has been addressed before on forums, but with the heavy traffic, it can be hard to find the proper post. So, I'll provide some explanations here as well. Note: This article is written with symmetric encryption in mind, but the actual technique Read More...
Posted 11 January 08 11:05 by lcris | 0 Comments   
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SQL Server 2005: Restoring the backup of a database that uses encryption
I have addressed this topic in previous threads and comments ( here , here , and here , for example), both on this blog and on various forums, but it looks like when you need the answer, it can be hard to dig out. So I'm hoping that by placing these steps Read More...
Posted 16 November 07 11:41 by lcris | 10 Comments   
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SQL Server 2005: How to recover when the service master key (SMK) is not accessible
I wrote earlier today a reply on this topic on the public forums, but now that I checked, the reply appears to have got lost, although I still entertain the hope it may only have got delayed and will appear there in 24 hours. Anyway, this is the reason Read More...
Posted 14 November 07 01:55 by lcris | 0 Comments   
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SQL Server undocumented password hashing builtins: pwdcompare and pwdencrypt
First, I must say that I don't know why these exist in an undocumented form. They have been around for a long time and a search on their names gets me back pages of hits. Being undocumented means that their actual implementation may change slightly from Read More...
Posted 31 October 07 11:08 by lcris | 0 Comments   
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Basic SQL Server Security concepts: SIDs, orphaned users, and loginless users
I am grouping here two topics (orphaned users and loginless users) that are actually very different, but I have often seen confusion between them, so I am covering them together in an attempt to dispel that confusion. In a previous discussion of logins Read More...
Posted 25 October 07 05:42 by lcris | 0 Comments   
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SQL Server 2005: A note about the use of certificates
To avoid any confusion, this post is not about the use of certificates for securing the communication between a client machine and the server; instead, this refers to the use of certificates created via the CREATE CERTIFICATE DDL. I am prompted in writing Read More...
Posted 04 October 07 08:59 by lcris | 1 Comments   
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SQL Server 2008: Transparent data encryption feature - a quick overview
I have kept silent on this feature while it was being developed, but as it has now been publicly advertised in various ways (being mentioned here , here , here , and here , for example), I think it is probably time to write a bit about it. Given that Read More...
Posted 03 October 07 04:55 by lcris | 2 Comments   
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Security and copy protection
I have been watching the SQL Server Security forum for several years now and there is one question that gets spawned about once a month under different titles. It invariably begins with a request for guidance on how to secure access to a database, which Read More...
Posted 24 September 07 03:57 by lcris | 0 Comments   
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Basic SQL Server Security concepts - ownership chaining: good and evil; schemas
At some point during SQL Server's history, its designers must have confronted the following problem: how to give someone permission to see parts of a table without giving him any permission on the table? Slices of a table are easily defined using views, Read More...
Posted 13 September 07 11:37 by lcris | 0 Comments   
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Basic SQL Server Security concepts - permissions and special principals: sa, dbo, guest
In a previous post , I talked about the various types of principals in SQL Server. Let's have a further look in this post at permissions and at some of the hardcoded principals that ship with any installation of SQL Server. Permissions are what allow Read More...
Posted 12 September 07 03:12 by lcris | 0 Comments   
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