Is it possible to prevent databases from being copied?

Hi,

We have a point of sale application (C# .NET 2.0) and a Sql Server 2005 database back end.

Our customers are concerned that employees could create a backup of the SQL Server database (or even of the MDF file) and use it to steel customer data.

Very often, the application is running on a single PC in a shop using Sql Server Express Edition 2005 under Windows XP. The users usually log on as local administrator. It's hard for us to force our customers to change their local security policies.

Ideally, I would like some form of security mechanism that prevents a backup from being restored on to another PC without either a password or some other form of authentication.

Is this possible?

Regards,

Sigol.

I'm assuming you meant 'steal' (to take), rather than 'steel' (to harden).

There are several issues.

1. As you noted, a backup 'could' be restored on another server. Various third party backup programs allow passwords and encryption for backups. Any SQL Admin can create a backup that can be restored elsewhere.
2. A SQL administrator could take the database 'offline' for a few minutes and copy the data file (*.mdf)
3. A local administrator could shut down the SQL Service for a few minutes and copy the data file (*.mdf).
4. Even with an Encrypted database, or tables, or even specific columns, a local SQL Administrator can usually get around the protections.

Don't allow any local administrators to be in the SQL Admins role.

So if you are concerned about protecting a database, the 'best' solutions, in a situation where you can't control the local administrators, is to look into database encryption using encryption keys, or better yet, certificates.

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Thank you for your comments, Arnie. This was very helpful to me.

Regards,

Sigol.

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Arnie Rowland wrote:

I'm assuming you meant 'steal' (to take), rather than 'steel' (to harden).

Having a grammatically bad day, Arnie!

sql

Is it possible to keep the page header at top of browser page with drill enabled?

When I click a drilldown [+] on a report in the browser the page starts
at the point where I start (click) the drill. Everything above the
click-point is above and I have to scroll up to see it. Is there a way
to keep the heading visible on a report using drill?RS 2005 will provide floating headers on table or matrix which may be close
to what you are looking for. For RS 2000 I can't think of anything that
would do it - unless you try to write your own "report viewing" application
which shows the required context information outside the boundaries where
you show the report contents.
-- Robert
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.
"Merkin" <flyin_merkin@.yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1112206546.496405.301270@.f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
> When I click a drilldown [+] on a report in the browser the page starts
> at the point where I start (click) the drill. Everything above the
> click-point is above and I have to scroll up to see it. Is there a way
> to keep the heading visible on a report using drill?
>

Is DTS Support in 2005 Going Away Permanently at Some Point?

I hope this is the right forum to post my question in.

Does anyone know if or when Microsoft will discontinue support for 2000 DTS Legacy packages within SQL Server 2005? We’re in the process of migrating from 2000 to 2005 and have a lot of packages to migrate to Integration Services. We’re having problems migrating the packages because quite a few of them are complex and won’t run after migrating to IS without a major rewrite. Right now it seems that those packages will run just fine under the Legacy folder on the 2005 instance with the data connections pointed to 2005 databases. We’d just like to plan appropriately if we absolutely have to migrate those packages to IS at some point soon. We realize that we'll need to create new packages using IS, though.
So I’d appreciate it if anyone has heard anything to please let me know. I apologize if this has been asked before, but I couldn’t seem to find any posts on it.

Thanks!

Here's some info

http://blogs.conchango.com/jamesrowlandjones/archive/2007/02/18/08.04.08-is-SQL2K-day.aspx

|||Thanks!|||

Hi, your question was good and info noted before was good as well.
I thought I would point you to the official deprecation notice as well.

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms403408.aspx

Its intentionally vauge regarding timelines but the idea is to inform you of general direction and changes. You question was if at some point SQL '2005' would not support DTS 2000 pacakges, I think its fair to say no, because 2005 is out the door and in customer hands.

The real question is for how lmany future versions of SQL server support DTS 2000 pacakges. There obviously has to be a limit for practicality reasons. MSFT would like to support everything all the time but thats not realistic as it would continually hinder inovations and changes. So, the reason the depecation noitce is vauge on timeline as the exact version support is stopped may depend on how versions evolve with new features and such. Things will not just get pulled out from under you, but there is a realistic limit. The intent of the notice is similar to the blog, to inform you its needed at some point and formulating a strategy sooner rather than later is a good thing.

hope that helps