A strong SA password is required for security reasons?

When I try to install SQL Server I get the follwing message when I click on the installation file :

A strong SA password is required for securityreasons.

Please use SAPWDswitch to supply the same. Refer to readme

for more details.Setup will now exit.

I've checked the readme but can't really find any info on how to fix this.
I don't know what password this SA password is nor how to change it.
Can anyone help me out?

It sounds like you are trying to set up MSDE. Instead of runningSETUP.EXE, you need to run SETUP.EXE with a SAPWD switch, somethinglike this:

setup sapwd="astrongpassword" securitymode=sql

|||Thanks for the help but there are just a few things I want to know about what you said.
1.How do I run this switch. By going to Start->Run and then typing in the switch?
2. Where you said sapwd="astrongpassword". Can this be any password or is this some existing password?

|||

What steps are you taking to do the installation?

Do you have the readme file that came with the MSDE installation files?

It should really explain how to do all of this. You are likelyrunning a .bat file in which one of the lines being executed issetup.exe. This is the line to which the switch should beadded. Something like this:

setup SAPWD="AStrongSAPwd" SECURITYMODE=SQL

According toSecurity Rulesa strong password is:

at least seven characters long|||

Hi,

Looks like you got some good advice already. I just wanted to add a caution that you'll likely need to consider soon enough. While having a strong (harder to crack) PW is important, youdon't everwant to use the sa (System Administrator) account when creating your ASP.NET applications. There are other "users" that you'll be able to have access your DBs. ASP.NET has a worker process that acts as a user on behalf of ASP.NET applications. It's called ASPNET (though you'll need to use NETWORK SERVICE if you're using IIS 6). In any case, you can look up those terms when the time comes.

Hope it helps. BRN..

|||

Hi,

I changed the sa PWD on my system just a while ago. I noticed that it would not accept spaces in the PWD. I generally like to use pass phrases now, as they're easier for me to remember. Not having spaces makes it awkward. Wonder why windows and SQL Server differ on that? Do you happen to know why? BRN..

|||Thank you very much for the help as I got the problem sorted out as you suggested.

a strange problem

I made a some reports. set their parameterss and passed them while invoking report. At report creation time I check the INTEGRATED SECURITY checkbox so it does not ask for password when pressing ther "invoke report" button. (expectds behaviour).

But when I executed the same exe on some other machine. having similar database as mine. by clikcing the invoke report button, a box comes up asking the following informtion.

Server name:
user :
password :
database :

how to solve it...Open the report and do verify database

A few database issues

A few questions:

1. What is better security wise: sql authentication or windows authentication?

2. If I use windows authentication, which account is normally used for access? and how do I set this in the database as well as the web.config?
(I test locally, but when I place the live site at my hosting provider I want to make sure that the windows account I used for testing is supported by them)

Thanks!

PS. SQL Server is driving me crazy with its no-helping-weird errors...(or is that just me? ;) )

1. If you run SQL Server on WinNT, Windows Authentication may be better. Windows Authentication is also called 'trusted connection', which means SQL trusts current Windows account context; SQL Server achieves login security integration with Windows NT 4.0 or Windows 2000 by using the security attributes of a network user to control login access.

SQL Server Authentication is provided for backward compatibility. When a user connects with a specified login name and password (both stored in SQL Server) from a nontrusted connection, SQL Server performs the authentication itself.

For more information, you can visit this website:http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/adminsql/ad_security_47u6.asp?frame=true

2. Current Windows logon account is used for Windows Authenticatoin (if the machine is in a domain, some delegation may be performed by the domain controller). Local 'Administrator' account on the machine is mapped to 'BUILTIN\Administrators' login in SQL Server; and if you want to connect to a remote SQL Server with Windows Authentication, you have to add the Windows account to the SQL Server logins (use Enterprise Manager->'Security'->'Logins').

In a VS2005 starter kit web application there is something like this in web.config that looks like using Window Authentication (in green):

<connectionStrings>
<add name="LocalSqlServer" connectionString="Data Source=.\SQLExpress;Integrated Security=True;User Instance=True;AttachDBFilename=|DataDirectory|aspnetdb.mdf" />
</connectionStrings>

BTW, SQL Books Online provides some useful helping message, and more can be found inhttp://msdn.microsoft.com ^_^