Field Encryption

I want to save passwords in an encrypted format in my database. Is there a b
uilt-in function of SQL Server to encrypt these, or should I use my own algo
rythm?
TIA,
Will TThere is none built-in. You can search the archives of this newsgroup for
some ideas. Also check:
www.sqlsecurity.com
Anith|||See:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/pr...n/sp3sec03.mspx
Storing Credentials
Avoid storing credentials in any form. The best practice is to use only
Windows Authentication and never handle credentials at all. If your
application must connect with a system outside a trusted domain, however,
credential management may become necessary. In this case, the best practice
is to encrypt the credentials using the DPAPI and save them in a registry
key that uses an ACL.
Thanks,
Kevin McDonnell
Microsoft Corporation
This posting is provided AS IS with no warranties, and confers no rights.|||If you are storing user passwords for your application and need a small leve
l of encryption to use. Try the undocumented
PWDENCRYPT:
String function used to encrypt a string using SQL Server's password encrypt
ion algorithm.
SELECT PWDENCRYPT('string')
and
PWDCOMPARE
String function used to compare an unencrypted string to the value returned
by the PWDENCRYPT function.
SELECT CASE ISNULL(PWDCOMPARE ('sa',(SELECT password FROM master.dbo.syslogi
ns WHERE name = 'sa')),0)
WHEN 0 THEN 'Not the same'
WHEN 1 THEN 'Password the same as the login'
END
No real decrypt function available.
These two encryption functions are what SQL Server uses to stored its own pa
sswords, are not extremely strong. Commerical products are available that ar
e much stronger.
Randy
www.Database-Security.Info|||To add to Randy's response, one shouldn't use undocumented features in
production code. These may be changed in future SQL Server versions or
service packs and break your application.
Hope this helps.
Dan Guzman
SQL Server MVP
"Will T" <anonymous@.discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:158D0D8C-1B5B-4633-AA05-0FAAC0352826@.microsoft.com...
> I want to save passwords in an encrypted format in my database. Is there a
built-in function of SQL Server to encrypt these, or should I use my own
algorythm?
> TIA,
> Will T|||pls send reply sooooooooooooon
****************************************
******************************
Sent via Fuzzy Software @. http://www.fuzzysoftware.com/
Comprehensive, categorised, searchable collection of links to ASP & ASP.NET
resources...sql

Field Description Won't Save in MSDE Table

I've been working with numerous tables (creating them, that is) in
MSDE.
Everything's working fine aside from the fact that I can't seem to get
any descriptive information on any field in any table to save.
I add the descriptive text to the field, click to save the table with
the newly-entered description, the hourglass displays and the table is
being saved, and then when the design view of the table refreshes, the
descriptions I've just entered on the various fields are gone.
Anyone else have problems with this?
Thanks!
Sincerely,
Brad H. McCollum
bmccoll1@.midsouth.rr.com
What application are you using to design the table?
Aaron Bertrand
SQL Server MVP
http://www.aspfaq.com/
"Brad H McCollum" <bmccoll1@.midsouth.rr.com> wrote in message
news:52031869.0405070905.9a523cb@.posting.google.co m...
> I've been working with numerous tables (creating them, that is) in
> MSDE.
> Everything's working fine aside from the fact that I can't seem to get
> any descriptive information on any field in any table to save.
> I add the descriptive text to the field, click to save the table with
> the newly-entered description, the hourglass displays and the table is
> being saved, and then when the design view of the table refreshes, the
> descriptions I've just entered on the various fields are gone.
> Anyone else have problems with this?
> Thanks!
> Sincerely,
> Brad H. McCollum
> bmccoll1@.midsouth.rr.com
|||I'm using MSDE Manager by Vale Software and haven't found anything
dealing with this issue on their website.
Thanks for any additional information/assistance/recommendations you
might be able to offer.
Sincerely,
Brad H. McCollum
bmccoll1@.midsouth.rr.com
"Aaron Bertrand - MVP" <aaron@.TRASHaspfaq.com> wrote in message news:<#DZOEnFNEHA.808@.tk2msftngp13.phx.gbl>...[vbcol=seagreen]
> What application are you using to design the table?
> --
> Aaron Bertrand
> SQL Server MVP
> http://www.aspfaq.com/
>
>
> "Brad H McCollum" <bmccoll1@.midsouth.rr.com> wrote in message
> news:52031869.0405070905.9a523cb@.posting.google.co m...
|||hi Brad,
"Brad H McCollum" <bmccoll1@.midsouth.rr.com> ha scritto nel messaggio
news:52031869.0405100708.c92ddd@.posting.google.com ...
> I'm using MSDE Manager by Vale Software and haven't found anything
> dealing with this issue on their website.
> Thanks for any additional information/assistance/recommendations you
> might be able to offer.
>
coul'd be a "feature" of MSDE Manager, as both Enterprise Manager and my own
management tool, available at the link following my sign., provide the
expectet behaviour...
please contact the application provider...
Andrea Montanari (Microsoft MVP - SQL Server)
http://www.asql.biz/DbaMgr.shtmhttp://italy.mvps.org
DbaMgr2k ver 0.7.0 - DbaMgr ver 0.53.0
(my vb6+sql-dmo little try to provide MS MSDE 1.0 and MSDE 2000 a visual
interface)
-- remove DMO to reply
|||You should contact the vendor directly. I imagine it's not supported
because column descriptions are kind of superfluous. I tend to shy away
from storing column descriptions in the database, and instead opt for good
documentation on my tables. A user can always look at the documentation but
shouldn't be forced to read a (max 255?) character description by connecting
to the database.
Aaron Bertrand
SQL Server MVP
http://www.aspfaq.com/
"Brad H McCollum" <bmccoll1@.midsouth.rr.com> wrote in message
news:52031869.0405100708.c92ddd@.posting.google.com ...
> I'm using MSDE Manager by Vale Software and haven't found anything
> dealing with this issue on their website.
> Thanks for any additional information/assistance/recommendations you
> might be able to offer.
> Sincerely,
> Brad H. McCollum
> bmccoll1@.midsouth.rr.com

Favorites do not save.

i have added numerous favorites the past week and they do not save. Anyone know of a fix for this. It really helps to not have to do a search for the same thing on numerous occassions.if you are referring to "Help Favorites" in BOL 2006 they do work for me. I am using the July 2006 version of BOL, but BOL in turn uses Microsoft Document Explorer.sql