Protecting Database From Code Stealing and Installer Advice

Dear Group

I'd be grateful if you can give me some advice on the following.
An application I wrote uses an MSDE backend and I wonder whether
there's a way (even for the system administrator) of not seeing or
tracing stored procedure code, view and table designs?

And I also wonder whether you can advise me on an installer that
handles MSDE and database setup during installation without too much
effort but is still affordable < USD 1000.

Any articles, resources, advice hints for these two topics are very
appreciated.

Thank you very much for your help & efforts!

Martin

The short answer regarding hiding your database code and data is that
you can't - a sysadmin has full access to all objects in MSSQL. You can
create some objects WITH ENCRYPTION, but that isn't a real solution, as
the encryption can been hacked, so it will only prevent casual users
from seeing it, not a determined attacker (and if the server is under
someone else's control, you can't secure it effectively anyway).

The best way to protect your intellectual property is probably a legal
contract rather than a technical solution, although if it's really
important to you then you could provide your application as a remotely
hosted service, not a local installation.

As for a packaging tool, Red Gate have one in that price range. I
haven't used it myself, but I have used some of their other SQL
products, and they seem to be quite good for what they cost:

http://www.red-gate.com/sql/sql_packager.htm

Simon

Am 24 Aug 2005 05:30:34 -0700 schrieb  theintrepidfox@hotma
il.com:

> Dear Group
>
> I'd be grateful if you can give me some advice on the following.
> An application I wrote uses an MSDE backend and I wonder whether
> there's a way (even for the system administrator) of not seeing or
> tracing stored procedure code, view and table designs?
>
> And I also wonder whether you can advise me on an installer that
> handles MSDE and database setup during installation without too much
> effort but is still affordable < USD 1000.
>
> Any articles, resources, advice hints for these two topics are very
> appreciated.
>
> Thank you very much for your help & efforts!
>
> Martin

maybe this can help you:
http://www.sql-shield.com/

bye,
Helmut

Thanks Simon & Helmut :-)