CREATE DATABASE permission denied in database 'master' accessing as SA - sql-server-express

Question

I created a small application for test purposes. The problem starts when I try to deploy the app to an Azure VM. When accessing the published app, I get an error
CREATE DATABASE permission denied in database 'master'
The strange thing is that it works fine when I access the same DB, with the same user (sa), from my PC or SSMS. It just doesn't work only when running on the web server. I have no idea what is going wrong.
Here is the stack trace I get:
[SqlException (0x80131904): CREATE DATABASE permission denied in database 'master'.]
System.Data.SqlClient.SqlConnection.OnError(SqlException exception, Boolean breakConnection, Action`1 wrapCloseInAction) +3306108
System.Data.SqlClient.TdsParser.ThrowExceptionAndWarning(TdsParserStateObject stateObj, Boolean callerHasConnectionLock, Boolean asyncClose) +736
System.Data.SqlClient.TdsParser.TryRun(RunBehavior runBehavior, SqlCommand cmdHandler, SqlDataReader dataStream, BulkCopySimpleResultSet bulkCopyHandler, TdsParserStateObject stateObj, Boolean& dataReady) +4061
System.Data.SqlClient.SqlCommand.RunExecuteNonQueryTds(String methodName, Boolean async, Int32 timeout, Boolean asyncWrite) +1293
System.Data.SqlClient.SqlCommand.InternalExecuteNonQuery(TaskCompletionSource`1 completion, String methodName, Boolean sendToPipe, Int32 timeout, Boolean& usedCache, Boolean asyncWrite, Boolean inRetry) +421
System.Data.SqlClient.SqlCommand.ExecuteNonQuery() +380
System.Data.Entity.Infrastructure.Interception.InternalDispatcher`1.Dispatch(TTarget target, Func`3 operation, TInterceptionContext interceptionContext, Action`3 executing, Action`3 executed) +104
System.Data.Entity.Infrastructure.Interception.DbCommandDispatcher.NonQuery(DbCommand command, DbCommandInterceptionContext interceptionContext) +499
System.Data.Entity.SqlServer.<>c__DisplayClass1a.<CreateDatabaseFromScript>b__19(DbConnection conn) +135
System.Data.Entity.SqlServer.<>c__DisplayClass33.<UsingConnection>b__32() +587
System.Data.Entity.SqlServer.<>c__DisplayClass1.<Execute>b__0() +18
System.Data.Entity.SqlServer.DefaultSqlExecutionStrategy.Execute(Func`1 operation) +234
System.Data.Entity.SqlServer.SqlProviderServices.UsingMasterConnection(DbConnection sqlConnection, Action`1 act) +909
System.Data.Entity.SqlServer.SqlProviderServices.CreateDatabaseFromScript(Nullable`1 commandTimeout, DbConnection sqlConnection, String createDatabaseScript) +117
System.Data.Entity.SqlServer.SqlProviderServices.DbCreateDatabase(DbConnection connection, Nullable`1 commandTimeout, StoreItemCollection storeItemCollection) +211
System.Data.Entity.Migrations.Utilities.DatabaseCreator.Create(DbConnection connection) +125
System.Data.Entity.Migrations.DbMigrator.EnsureDatabaseExists(Action mustSucceedToKeepDatabase) +156
System.Data.Entity.Migrations.DbMigrator.Update(String targetMigration) +116
System.Data.Entity.Internal.DatabaseCreator.CreateDatabase(InternalContext internalContext, Func`3 createMigrator, ObjectContext objectContext) +124
System.Data.Entity.Database.Create(DatabaseExistenceState existenceState) +292
System.Data.Entity.CreateDatabaseIfNotExists`1.InitializeDatabase(TContext context) +187
System.Data.Entity.Internal.InternalContext.PerformInitializationAction(Action action) +75
System.Data.Entity.Internal.InternalContext.PerformDatabaseInitialization() +482
System.Data.Entity.Internal.RetryAction`1.PerformAction(TInput input) +177
System.Data.Entity.Internal.LazyInternalContext.InitializeDatabaseAction(Action`1 action) +269
System.Data.Entity.Internal.InternalContext.GetEntitySetAndBaseTypeForType(Type entityType) +38
System.Data.Entity.Internal.Linq.InternalSet`1.Initialize() +69
System.Data.Entity.Internal.Linq.InternalSet`1.get_InternalContext() +21
System.Data.Entity.Infrastructure.DbQuery`1.System.Linq.IQueryable.get_Provider() +59
System.Linq.Queryable.FirstOrDefault(IQueryable`1 source, Expression`1 predicate) +61
MajowskiMartinCloud.Models.ADALTokenCache..ctor(String signedInUserId) +539
MajowskiMartinCloud.Startup.<ConfigureAuth>b__7_0(AuthorizationCodeReceivedNotification context) +149
Microsoft.Owin.Security.OpenIdConnect.<AuthenticateCoreAsync>d__1a.MoveNext() +5428
System.Runtime.ExceptionServices.ExceptionDispatchInfo.Throw() +31
Microsoft.Owin.Security.OpenIdConnect.<AuthenticateCoreAsync>d__1a.MoveNext() +5937
System.Runtime.ExceptionServices.ExceptionDispatchInfo.Throw() +31
System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter.HandleNonSuccessAndDebuggerNotification(Task task) +60
Microsoft.Owin.Security.Infrastructure.<BaseInitializeAsync>d__0.MoveNext() +817
System.Runtime.ExceptionServices.ExceptionDispatchInfo.Throw() +31
System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter.HandleNonSuccessAndDebuggerNotification(Task task) +60
Microsoft.Owin.Security.Infrastructure.<Invoke>d__0.MoveNext() +329
System.Runtime.ExceptionServices.ExceptionDispatchInfo.Throw() +31
System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter.HandleNonSuccessAndDebuggerNotification(Task task) +60
Microsoft.Owin.Host.SystemWeb.IntegratedPipeline.<RunApp>d__5.MoveNext() +197
System.Runtime.ExceptionServices.ExceptionDispatchInfo.Throw() +31
System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter.HandleNonSuccessAndDebuggerNotification(Task task) +60
Microsoft.Owin.Security.Infrastructure.<Invoke>d__0.MoveNext() +768
System.Runtime.ExceptionServices.ExceptionDispatchInfo.Throw() +31
System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter.HandleNonSuccessAndDebuggerNotification(Task task) +60
Microsoft.Owin.Host.SystemWeb.IntegratedPipeline.<RunApp>d__5.MoveNext() +197
System.Runtime.ExceptionServices.ExceptionDispatchInfo.Throw() +31
System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter.HandleNonSuccessAndDebuggerNotification(Task task) +60
Microsoft.Owin.Host.SystemWeb.IntegratedPipeline.<DoFinalWork>d__2.MoveNext() +184
System.Runtime.ExceptionServices.ExceptionDispatchInfo.Throw() +31
Microsoft.Owin.Host.SystemWeb.IntegratedPipeline.StageAsyncResult.End(IAsyncResult ar) +117
System.Web.AsyncEventExecutionStep.System.Web.HttpApplication.IExecutionStep.Execute() +367
System.Web.HttpApplication.ExecuteStepImpl(IExecutionStep step) +195
System.Web.HttpApplication.ExecuteStep(IExecutionStep step, Boolean& completedSynchronously) +128

Answer 1

After 2 days, I finally found out witch was the problem.
When I created the project in VS2015, i created a new MVC project with AzureAD authentication. While creating the solution, VS added to web config this part of code to manage the token cache:
<defaultConnectionFactory type="System.Data.Entity.Infrastructure.SqlConnectionFactory, EntityFramework" />
On my PC I was using the IIS Express server, so I assume that VS was managing all the authorization part. And I just did't care about it, since it was working, so I didn't even know that there was another DB access, other than the one I defined for EF Model.
I'm not sure, but I assume that with this configuration the app try to connect to the local sql server instance (.\SQLEXPRESS) using the IIS user. The IIS user does,'t have any role on my Sql instance, so I think that this is the reason of the error. I resolved changing the part above with this:
<defaultConnectionFactory type="System.Data.Entity.Infrastructure.SqlConnectionFactory, EntityFramework">
<parameters>
<parameter value="Data Source=.\SQLEXPRESS;Initial Catalog=MyDB;MultipleActiveResultSets=True;User ID=*******;Password=*******" />
</parameters>
</defaultConnectionFactory>
Now it works