I have an Excel file with a SQL query to retrieve information from our SQL Server database. I want this Excel file to be available to anyone on the network.
I tested this a couple of times and it is not creating the connection on any PC but mine. I found a few answers that I thought would resolve the problem but whenever I attempt to change the connection string in Excel it reverts back to the original string.
Here is the current connection string:
DRIVER=SQL Server;SERVER=SERVER\SQLEXPRESS;UID=<My User ID>;Trusted_Connection=Yes;APP=2007 Microsoft Office system;WSID=<My WS ID>;DATABASE=<Database Name>
The main person I would like to have access to this file also has permissions to access the database from SQL Server Management Studio. What I found from searching said I should set the security to Windows Authentication and change the connection string to something along these lines:
DRIVER=SQL Server;SERVER=SERVER\SQLEXPRESS;Integrated Security=SSPI ;DATABASE=<Database name>
However when I attempt to change the connection settings in my Excel file it reverts back to the original string. What would be causing it to revert back to the original connection string after I change it and is the second example correct?
Thanks in advance
I'll leave the question open since it could help someone else down the road. I got this to work by changing the connection string inside of the connection file to:
DRIVER=SQL Server;SERVER=SERVER\SQLEXPRESS;Integrated Security=SSPI ;DATABASE=<Database name>
The line Integrated Security=SSPI took care of the sharing issues between computers.
Related
I'm working on an SSIS package to extract data from one old database and move to a SQL database. The only way to connect to the source database is using ODBC. I set up an ADO.NET connection manager and project parameters to store the username and password. Then I went to the connection and chose "Parameterize...". I selected username and password and linked to the project parameters I set up. The connection continues to fail. The only way I've been able to get it to work is to allow the package to save sensitive data and to save the password in the connection manager (going to edit, typing in username and password, then saving). If I rely on the parameters it does not work. I also tried deploying to the SSIS catalog, then executing by going to the package and entering the credentials under the Connections Managers tab. The only way I've been able to get this to work is to allow it to save sensitive data, enter credentials directly in the package and then save.
I cannot figure out why it will not pass the username and password from parameters or with the connection manager when executing in SSMS. The error I get back is that it's missing the password.
Any help would be greatly appreciated! I'm not new to SSIS, but have tried everything and can't seem to make this one work. I'm stuck using ADO.NET and ODBC.
Few things to do:
Set the SSIS package ProtectionLevel to SaveNoSensitive.
Go to the connection and chose "Parameterize..." and select the
entire connection string.
Assign proper values to Project level parameter that is used to parameterize the enire connection string.
I am a .Net / SQL Server programmer. I am trying to make an Access database created by someone else to work. It looks like is uses a procedure similar to Save password for ODBC connection to SQL Server from MS Access 2007 but I am using Access 2003 so I suspect something else needs to be done. I don't really know what I am doing with Access but I am stuck with it.
I do have an ODBC connection and it looks like the linked tables use it. The database has an AutoExec which populates some local tables from the linked tables that the reports use. It also calls a qryConnect with a dsn-less connection like the linked article and this seems to work. I have got it to stop asking for a user and password on start up. I can also open most reports without problems, 2 do not work. A form loads on Startup with buttons that basically show reports. This is where it gets odd.
The reports fail from the ODBC driver with the windows credentials. Then a logon box shows up with the correct user (a user with read only privileges) but the trusted connection box is checked. I do not have the trusted box checked in the DSN. Not do I have Trusted_Connection=Yes in the DSN-less connection in qryConnect.
This is the code in the form
stDocName = "rptNegativeLotQtys"
DoCmd.OpenReport stDocName, acPreview
I don't know how I buggered it up so much and before I try again copying everything to a new mdb and trying again I am hoping to get some guidance.
On a side note I can open everything fine on my machine. I am an administrator as far as Windows is concerned but not SQL Server.
EDIT:
I created a new DSN just for these reports. Then I deleted all linked tables and re-linked then using the new DSN. I looked at the linked tables in MsysObjects and the new DSN is listed there. Yet Access still prompts for the password. It appears that it is not caching the password.
Actually, you do NOT need to add nor store the UID/Pass in the connection strings used. However, what you MUST ensure is that all connection strings are the SAME. If they are different, then the cached UID/password will not work.
Also, make sure you do NOT connect nor open a table AFTER having connected using Windows Auth – the reason being then when you add the table links (especially via code), then the cached setup of using windows auth will occur, and thus prompts will occur when the links suggest to do otherwise. In other words linking and attempted to use SQL logons will NOT work if you already opened any table link via windows auth (so exit the database and do NOT open any table that could/can use windows auth).
So I would delete the links, and re-create them – but again, ensure that you never connected as a windows auth user to SQL server.
So the "cache" that access has is a GREAT friend/feature to eliminate the need to include UID/pass in the connection string - but the SAME feature will bite you VERY bad if you at any time connecte to the database in question via windows auth.
How to “cache” the user logon and ID is explained here:
Power Tip: Improve the security of database connections
http://blogs.office.com/b/microsoft-access/archive/2011/04/08/power-tip-improve-the-security-of-database-connections.aspx
So you “can” include the UID/LOGON in the linked tables, but above shows that a ONE time logon can also be used. So be VERY careful when setting up table links – due to the above “cache” of the user and HOW they logged into the database – code that ATTEMPTS to create table links based SQL logons will actually wind up using windows auth if you already connected as such (so exit the database if you going to re-link using SQL logons).
Keep in mind, Access does NOT use the DSN AFTER you linked the table. The information from the DSN is a ONE TIME copy to the connection string. You can verify this by going into my documents and deleting the DSN you used. Assuming the linked table was working correctly, you find that they CONTINUE to work EVEN if you delete the DSN. In effect this means that linked tables are DSN less except for when you create the linked table. This allows you to easy copy the application to different computers without having to copy the DSN.
As to ensure that all the linked tables use the same connection string, it is a simple matter to delete them all, and re-link.
You can also hit ctrl-g to bring up the debug window, and look at the connection string this way:
? currentdb.TableDefs("linked table name").Connect
the result in the debug window for a windows auth connection string will look like this:
ODBC;Description=test DSN;DRIVER=SQL Server;
SERVER=albertkallal-pc\SQLEXPRESS;
Trusted_Connection=Yes;
APP=Microsoft Office 2010;DATABASE=AxisMIS
Note how in above we see "trusted connection" (that means windows auth).
If I linked the table using SQL logon (and REMEMBER to check save password), then you see this:
ODBC;Description=TEST3;DRIVER=SQL Server;
SERVER=ALBERTKALLAL-PC\SQLEXPRESS;
UID=MySQLogon;PWD=MyPassword;
APP=Microsoft Office 2010;DATABASE=AxisMIS
Just remember during the table link process to "check" the save password.
eg this:
I have the following code snippet:
SqlConnection sr = new SqlConnection(this.strConnection);
sr.Open();
Where connection string is:
Data Source = localhost;Initial Catalog=UIB_IS;Persist Security info=True;User ID=USR;Password=PSW;
(I have removed the user name and password from above for purpose of this question - I have double checked the password has not expired and is still the same.)
Every time I try to open the connection I get a failed exception.
I have also tried using the Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.Smo.Server() object with a string connection as well as a ServerConnection object. With the server connection object using a string and SQLConnection object.
None seem to be working.
Within the connection string I have tried the syntax ServerName\SQLSERVERNAME, 127.0.0.1 as well as localhost as you can see above.
Previously this code has been working over the last 6 months using the 'ServerName\SQSERVERNAME' syntax in the connection string on a Microsoft.SqlServer.Management.Smo.Server() object.
This last week.....no longer works.
No System updates have been applied. The DB and SQL User exist with the appropriate permissions set as were before. SQL Server still has allow remote connections set to allow.
The server firewall is also off (Development machine)
I cannot understand why it would suddenly stop working?
Anyone have any ideas?
Thanks in advance.
Be sure that your Sql Server allow remote connections. You can check its status under Sql Server Surface Area Configuration --> Surface Area Configuration for Services and Connection.
I'm trying to build a connection string for a test environment that will connect to the local SQL Server instance on different machines. The purpose of this is so that a developer can checkout the code from TFS, build it, and run the testcases, connecting to his local DB. The problem is that different developer's machines may have different SQL Server setups. In particular, some may be running the full server, others may be running SQL Server Express.
I'm trying to right a utility routine that will take template connection string (e.g., Data Source=(local); Initial Catalog= myDB; Integrated Security=SSPI;) and modify the Data Source to work with the local server.
I've tried using SmoApplication.EnumAvailableServers() (returns an empty table, regardless of whether I user true or false parameters), and SqlDataSourceEnumerator.GetDataSources() (returns 2888 servers from the network, but none on the local machine), SQLCMD -L (returns nothing).
Any suggestions?
In the alternative, is there an easy way to tell whether a particular connection string will connect to a server (without waiting for it to timeout if it doesn't). If I could find the answer to that, I could try the likely suspects until I got one to work.
you might try to get the connection string as following:
Create a new blank file and name it test.udl.
Double click on it, and a "Data Link Properties" dialog should appear.
On "Providers" tab, select "Microsoft OLE DB Provider for SQL Server" or "SQL Native Client"
On "Connections" tab, try various settings and use the "Test Connection" button to test them. Click "Ok" when it works.
Open the test.udl file in Notepad and copy the line that starts with "Provider=" into your Web.config "ConnectionString" value, BUT delete the little part that says "Provider=SQLNCLI.1;"
If you want each developer to work with their own local SQL server, then the ADO connection string should have the Data Source set to localhost
... ; Data Source=localhost; ...
Additionally, to get a list of current servers, go to the command line and run
osql -L
You can look in the registry to find all local SQL Server instances. This key contains the list: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server\Instance Names\SQL.
Each named instance will have a value in this key. For named instances the name of the value is the same as the name of the instance. For the default instance the value will be named MSSQLSERVER.
This will do the trick:
Data Source=.\SQLEXPRESS
This should be painfully simple, but I cannot come up with a working connection string for a local copy of SQL Server 2008 using Windows Authentication. I've tried using the Data Link Properties tool to create a connection string and it has no problems connecting, but when I copy paste the generated string into my ADODB.Connection object's ConnectionString property I get all sorts of fun and different errors.
Set conn = Server.CreateObject("ADODB.Connection")
conn.ConnectionString = "SQLNCLI10.1;Integrated Security=SSPI;Persist Security Info=False;Initial Catalog=climb4acure;Data Source=(local);"
Microsoft OLE DB Service Components (0x80040E21)
Multiple-step OLE DB operation generated errors. Check each OLE DB status value, if available. No work was done.
I've tried a variety of similar connection strings but I cannot find one that will work with Windows Authentication. Can someone point me in the right direction?
Thanks!
Here's an easy way to generate connection strings that work.
Right-click an empty spot on the desktop and choose NEW, TEXT DOCUMENT from the context menu
Save it with a .udl extension, and click yes when it asks are you sure.
Double-click the new udl file you just created. It will open a dialogue. Go to the Provider tab, and choose the appropriate provider.
Go to the Connection tab and fill in the server name and database name, and choose NT authentication (or use a specific username and password, which is SQL authentication). Now click Test Connection. If it works, you're ready to click OK and move on to the final step. If it doesn't you need to resolve permission issues, or you've mis-typed something.
Now right-click the file on the desktop and open it in notepad. It will display the connection string that you can copy and paste to wherever you need it.
I assume you have the 2008 Native Client installed? Also, I noticed that you're missing the "provider" tag at the beginning - do you have any more luck with this one:
Provider=SQLNCLI10.1;Integrated Security=SSPI;Persist Security Info=False;Initial Catalog=climb4acure;Data Source=(local);
Have you had a look at connectionstrings.com? They are a pretty good reference (but, in my experience, they don't work too well in the Google Chrome browser).
Works absolutely fine:
"Provider=SQLNCLI;Server=xxxxxxxx;uid=sa;pwd=xxxxxx;database=xxxxxx;"