Connection to SQL Server database after restore - sql

I have been asked to maintain a site created in ASP classic that uses a SQL Server database.
I was given the database in the form of a backup. I restored the database on my local computer and created a DSN connection to it. However when I attempt to load my site, the stored procedures the site relies on give an error that execute permission was denied.
The stored procedures in question have a user named UserSecure showing as the only person with EXECUTE permission, I have tried creating a user by that name but that does not work, even though I can manually login to SQL Server Management Studio using UserSecure trying to connect from the web page using those credentials gives a login failed error.
If I run sp_helplogins my Windows credentials are shown as being owner of the database, and I can in fact execute from within SSMS but not from an ADO connection.
On another note the connection in the webpage was coded like this, I am not familiar with the application part of the connection. Perhaps this is part of the problem? I have tried connecting with a DSN and DSN-less connection and can connect but not do anything with the database?

You should make sure the database server login is mapped to the appropriate database user (this problem crops up often when dealing with database backups). If it is not, then you need to fix the mapping. Fortunately, there is a command called sp_change_users_login that you can use to fix this problem.
First, check if your login is mapped to your database user. Using SQL Server Management Studio (assuming SQL Server 2008), look under Security/Logins for UserSecure. If you see it in the list, double click on it and select User Mapping. From there, locate the database you are trying to connect to, and see if UserSecure is mapped to that database. If it is not, you may be able to fix it using the following command (assuming UserSecure is the name of both the login and the user):
EXEC sp_change_users_login AUTO_FIX, UserSecure
See MSDN for more info on sp_change_users_login:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms174378.aspx

One issue that has bitten me a few times:
If your stored procedure (or view) requires permission from a user (let's say userA), and the stored procedure calls another database's table or view (say viewB), it is not sufficient to just make a login on viewB's database, you must also explicitly grant userA permission to select/execute/etc. on viewB (which in turn requires a user on viewB's database)
So in your case, you may need to explicitly grant UserSecure execute permission on a stored procedure on an existing database referenced by the one you restored.

This may not be the most elegent fix, but I quit focusing on the one procedure and instead granted execute permission to the guest user on the entire DB. Since this is only running on my personal machine security is not an issue and it seems to have fixed the problem.

Know the problem all too well,
The ID of the user(name) will be different from the backed up database to the restored one. MSSQL stores the ID of the user and not the username (text), so the ID will be different (99% of the time) per machine and backup. So when the ID does not match you don't have access.
All you need to do is delete the user and recreate it, make sure you do it in both places:
Delete the user from the database first:
DATABASE -> SECURITY -> USERS -> Right click (username) + delete
Then goto
SECURITY -> LOGINS -> Right click (username) + delete
Then recreate the user and give the account the correct permissions and you're all good.

Related

Create SQL Server login for site, but has no SQL Server access to browse

I have a contractor who I want to give access to a website that connects to a database. I need to create a SQL Server user that can connect and read and write to the database.
However, I don't want this user to be able to connect to the SQL Server via something like Management Studio. Are there permissions that need to be enabled or disabled to accomplish this in SQL Server Management Studio?
SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) is basically a normal client that makes SQL statements in the background. If you create a login in the SSMS, then no magic happens, but a CREATE LOGIN. This can be recognized by the fact that there is (almost) always the possibility to generate the appropriate SQL statement via "Script as", which is normally done in SSMS via the graphical user interface.
If you would lock out SSMS, then other clients as well. And even if there were a setting, there are other possibilities via Powershell and the like. So this is not the way to go.
I suppose you don't want the contractor playing around on the SQL server just because he got access to a database? He is allowed in the house, but not in all rooms....
In other words, it can only be done via permissions, where there is a login to connect to the SQL Server on the one hand and a database user who gets access to the database on the other hand. Therefore there are authorizations on SQL server level (login) and database level (user).
CREATE LOGIN testlogin WITH PASSWORD = 'wowThisIsKewl';
GO
USE [YourDatabase]
GO
CREATE USER [dbuserlogin] FOR LOGIN [testlogin] WITH DEFAULT_SCHEMA=[db_owner]
GO
Each login belongs first to the SQL Server role "public", unless additional or different authorizations are granted. You can connect to this role, but e.g. you can not create databases, perform backups etc.... Just try it out.... =)
At the same time DB_OWNER at database level allows the login to read and write data, etc. and more.

Azure SQL Database Lacking Properties etc

I've been searching everywhere but it seems as nobody has my problem. I recently created an Azure SQL Database and I have not had luck at all with figuring out what to do with the error 18456. I Many times I've seen the "Just right click the database and go to properties and security" but there is no security. In fact there seem to be a lot of things I don't have when I right click. I barely know anything about any of this though, so I've tried quite a few things. At one point I thought I needed to use the sample adventure works. but that wasn't it. So I'd be really grateful if anyone helped.
[SSMS Version: 16.4.1]
[Azure SQL Database: Server Version 12]
Picture of my properties menu in SSMS(SQL Server Management Studio)
]
Picture of my right click
]
Your error is common, but the way you solve it on-premise or using virtual machines (Infrastructure-as-a-Service, IaaS) is different than how you would solve it for Windows Azure SQL Database (WASD). WASD is a Platform-as-a-Service version of SQL Server. The SQL Instance is logical, so you have to change some of your thought processes. One of the chief ways you'll need to change your thought processes is in how you manage your SQL Databases.
When you're in WASD and you create a database, you're asked to create an administrative username and password. Using that account you can deploy the schema of your database as well as SQL Authenticated Users and permissions. You don't have permission to change the instance's authentication types, that's why you don't see an option for security when you right-click on the instance name and choose properties.
The following steps are how you would create a new LOGIN to allow this new user to authenticate to the virtual instance. After you've created a LOGIN, you then need to create a database USER for this LOGIN. With this USER, you can then assign permissions for what this USER can and cannot do.
Adding Logins for your Windows Azure SQL Database
A few notes before we get started. In the following code anything in angle brackets (< and >) mean this is a variable you can change. So would be the username you want to create for your Entity-Framework application. would be the password you want to use for your .
Use your administrative credentials to connect to your instance. This account has permissions to control everything about your database. When you connect, you should find that by default you've connected to the master database on that instance. If not, use the drop-down at the top of SSMS to change to master. "USE master" will not work.
From this connection, the following T-SQL will create your Entity-Framework's username and password.
CREATE LOGIN [<username>] WITH PASSWORD = '<password>';
At this point, if you were to try and connect to the virtual instance with this and , you could connect to your virtual instance, but not any database on this virtual instance. Your error message would say something like:
The server principal "" is not able to access the database
"" under the current security context....
You need to take at least one more step before this user can connect to your user database.
Now, from that same SSMS script window, change the database to the user database () you're granting access to. This will be the database you want your Entity-Framework application to use. Remember, use the drop-down at the top.
First we will create a database user for the login created in the previous step.
CREATE USER [<username>] FOR LOGIN <username>
Then, we will allow this to connect to your user database , the database you want the Entity-Framework application to use.
GRANT CONNECT TO [<username>]
At this point, your new username can log in to the virtual instance and connect to your user database.
Now, you will need to add any other permissions this user will need. For example, if your will only need read permissions, you could get away with adding the user to the db_datareader database role. Add those permissions now.
Special note about connection and connection strings
Your user is now setup to connect to your user database. That means in SSMS if you try and connect with your Entity-Framework user, there is an extra step to your connection dialog box. Before you click Connect, you have to hit the Options button.
Since your user cannot hit master, you have to tell SSMS you want to connect to the user database first and avoid hitting master. By default, SSMS will try to connect to your SQL instance's master database first.
You have to enter the name of the database in the "connect to database" entry. After you've entered the database, you can then hit connect.
I'll guess that in your application it already had the "Default Catalog=" value set to your user database, and you were able to connect. Setting this value in options is like setting that "Default Catalog=" value.
I hope this helps you in breaking into WASD a little more.
EDITS: attempting to add clarity to the differences between IaaS SQL Server instances and PaaS Windows Azure SQL Database. I previously missed the FOR LOGIN clause on the CREATE USER statement.

When you create a new login in SQL Server it selects db_owner by default

I am having some trouble creating a new SQL user in SQL Server 2008 R2. When I use SQL Server Management Studio it checks db_owner role membership by default. I just want to create a new sql user with read only access. Even with the following raw SQL it still creates the user with db_owner level permission.
<!-- language: lang-sql -->
CREATE LOGIN readonlyuser
WITH PASSWORD = '12345',CHECK_POLICY = OFF, DEFAULT_DATABASE=mydatabase
GO
USE mydatabase
GO
CREATE USER readonlyuser FOR LOGIN readonlyuser
GO
EXEC sp_addrolemember 'db_datareader', 'readonlyuser'
Now if I log on to SQL Server Management Studio with newly created user I can basically access any table and modify any data any way that I want. This is exactly what I not want to do. I want only to be read data and not to modify any data
Strange thing is if I look at the roles for database the readonlyuser is inside db_datareader and not in db_owner.
So why is SQL creating this user with db_owner level permissions, thus allowing the user to modify data?
Update 2013/08/07
This seems to be happening with just one specific database. I created brand new database and created bunch of tables and then ran the same script above and it is working perfectly fine. But if i try with the actual database where i need this change, it doesn't work like that. It created the user and gave way too much permission.
Is there anything that i can check on that database? Please note that specific database was not designed by me. It is from a 3rd party vendor. So not sure exactly what modifications they might have done.
Any help is greatly appreciated.
I ran into the same issue.
The solution: sp_changedbowner. That fixed it. (Somehow the owner was corrupted)
I don't see any problem in query. And it worked as expected when i tested it. Just for confirmation, verify if user is properly mapped to required database (mydatabase) and db_datareader is selected from user property window.
I found that this happens to me when adding logins to databases that I restored to a new server. In the Files tab of the database's properties, the owner field is blank, even though it lists a user in the General tab. If I populate the owner field with a valid login, then the problem is resolved: new logins don't have "db_owner" checked by default.
To expand on Greg's comment, this probably happens when the restored database was owned on the source server by a login that's not present on the current (the destination) server. The info on the General tab is the original owner (on the source server), which cannot be reflected on the Files tab, since that logion is missing on the current server. In a certain sense this is an "orphaned database" then.

Make a login into dbo for a database in SQL Server

I am attempting to migrate from SQL Server 2005 to SQL Server 2008. Both of these database instances are hosted on 3rd party shared servers that I do not have full permissions to. They are using mixed mode authentication.
I am running into trouble setting up the new database the same way the old one was set up. Specifically, the new web-based control panel doesn't allow a dbo to be specified when creating a new database and then when using Red Gate SQL Compare to sync up the schemas I am having problems because some objects (that don't explicitly specify dbo in the script) are being created with the prefix of the user account rather dbo.
I have poured over the documentation trying to find a way to force my login "user1" as dbo to the "db1" database. I came to the conclusion that the script should look like this:
ALTER AUTHORIZATION ON DATABASE::db1 TO user1
Before running this script, the login "user1" already exists, but is not a user for database "db1". Note I had to submit this script to the support of my hosting company in order to run it. According to the hosting company the statement successfully executes, however when I compare the databases using SQL Compare the user "user1" has not been physically added to the database like it was under SQL Server 2005. When trying to add it using the script:
CREATE USER [user1] FOR LOGIN [user1] WITH DEFAULT_SCHEMA=[dbo]
I get the error message:
"The login already has an account under a different username"
I have tried dropping all of the other users from the database, but the error message still persists - which I find odd.
While I could just fix the scripts by explicitly specifying dbo, this would inevitably be a time bomb waiting to go off because if any new script were introduced that didn't explicitly specify dbo there would be a failure during synchronization. Since some of the scripts are from 3rd parties, this is not a good solution.
So my questions: Is there another statement that I need to run in order to add "user1" to the database as a user that is dbo? Is there anything that has changed in the implementation between SQL Server 2005 and SQL Server 2008 R2 that could cause these inconsistencies?
I am unfortunately not able to test to find an answer to the second one because I don't have another SQL Server 2008 database to test with and I don't have full access to do anything I want on this one.
The old database was created through a control panel which forced dbo to be specified and the new one doesn't allow dbo to be specified when creating a database.
From what i have gathered the following should suffice.
ALTER USER [user1] WITH DEFAULT_SCHEMA=[dbo]
The create wasnt working as it already existed.

Cannot open user default database. Login failed. SQL 2005

I have taken a copy of a database home with me so I can do some testing. However when I try to run a stored procedure I get Cannot open user default database. Login failed..
I have checked and checked and checked I can open tables in the databases login to sql management studio and access the default as well as other databases any ideas?
Possibly a corrupt user it was from sql 2000 at work to 2005 at home
EDIT: Mine was from 2005 to 2005. Not sure if this will work for your case...
I had a similar problem. For me, when I detach or create a back up and then re-create the database, it will loose connection to users. User I've been using is still there under Login but it would fail to log in.
In my case, I was able to log in by deleting the User under the database -> security -> users, not the user that's in the root sql server users list.
Then go to root users list and reassign database mapping or create user if not exists.
Hope this helps.
This is a shot in the dark, so forgive me if it just wastes your time.
Another poster mentioned that a given user has an id for the system and an id for any given database. This can be proven out by comparing sid's between the master.sys.syslogins and dbname.sys.users for the same login / user name. If you restore a backup from another sql server that has it's own copy of the master databases, the sids won't match.
Sql Server 2005 doesn't allow direct editing of system tables with out a lot of pain. To help out with these mis matches, they added a stored procedure to help you fix them:
USE dbName
GO
sp_change_users_login #Action='Report'
That will show you what users have a dbName.sys.users entry, but no master.sys.syslogins one - or where the name exists in both, but differ by sids.
If it shows that your user is out of synch, the procedure also has a mode to change the linking:
USE dbName
GO
sp_change_users_login 'Update_One', 'userNameInDbUsers', 'UserNameInLogins'
If the sid mis-match isn't your problem, I've also seen really screwy stuff with Sql Server 2005. The gui is especially buggy. To fix a problem like this, I had to actually drop the syslogins entry (via the gui or DROP LOGIN command )
sp_change_users_login: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms174378(SQL.90).aspx
Drop Login syntax: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms188012(SQL.90).aspx
I had the same issue and I fixed it with:
C:\> sqlcmd -E -d master
1> ALTER LOGIN ***** WITH DEFAULT_DATABASE=master
2> GO
Where ***** is your username.
(If you are using a domain username: [*****])
Edit:
Where ***** could be:
username if the user is local
[username] if the user belongs to the actual domain
[domain\username] if the user belongs to another domain (not tested)
I moved 8 databases from SQL Server 2000 to SQL Server 2005 and onto a whole different computer. I normally like to know what stored procs are doing so I dug a little bit and found that the actual command is ALTER USER.
It's what everybody else has been saying. The users get disassociated when you detach and reattach databases in SQL Server 2005. I find this behavior most annoying, as I didn't see that behavior in SQL Server 2000.
The T-SQL to fix this issue looks like this:
USE AdventureWorks;
ALTER USER Mary5 WITH NAME = Mary51;
GO
This MSDN article talks a bit more about this:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms176060.aspx
I just solved this issue. My default database was AdventureWorks2008, so as an Administrator, I ended up removing my login from the server. Then running the following to recreate my user
CREATE LOGIN [NT\mylogin] FROM WINDOWS WITH DEFAULT_DATABASE=[Master], DEFAULT_LANGUAGE=[us_english]
GO
My understanding is that Logins are stored in the server, whereas a User is an assignment of a login to a database (correct me if I'm wrong).
Therefore, you cannot move Logins by detaching/attaching databases, and the solution would be to create a database User connecting a (valid) login to the copied database.
http://benharrell.wordpress.com/2007/01/15/cannot-open-user-default-database-login-failed-login-failed-for-user-username-microsoft-sql-server-error-4064/
ALTER LOGIN works only in SQL 2005 and up.
To change the default database for a user in 2000 use
EXEC master.dbo.sp_defaultdb #loginname = N'BuiltIn\Administrators', #defdb = N'master'
I found this out the hard way when I set the builtin\administrators account to default to the application db and it went Offline somehow and I could no longer login. Using Management Studio, you can set the option to login to master but you must run the above command before any other operation will work, less you get the default database is unavailable error.
As was mentioned before, the login mapping to that user account probably became disassociated during the move. Or, you moved it without creating the credentials it was expecting, in which case, you'd need to create the login first...
If it was a backup set and you are restoring it, however, there is no way (that I know of) to reassociate the login to the user via the management UI. Instead, you have to use:
exec sp_change_users_login update_one, 'user', 'login'
to get it to restore the link.