Michael:
Is this thing 3-tier or 2-tier?  (If 3-tier, why would the desktop
application be aware in any way of where the database lives?)  Could you
please explain what you mean by a "mainframe" vs "'local' or client/server"
database?  The only distinctions I'd draw would be between a database that
the client accesses directly, and one that only the middle tier works with.
 I've never heard of ClientBuilder before; just opining on what I've seen
as a developer and would expect from an app of this vintage.

Ken:
If the clients are hitting the database directly, it seems clear that the
app design did not contemplate the number of concurrent database
connections as a bottleneck.  In a typical web application, we like
database connection pooling primarily to manage the database client side
resources on the web application server while also reducing connection
setup/teardown time.  I certainly would not rule out something that modern
doctrine considers "non-scalable" as impractical or unrealistic for an old
business app.  There are a lot of pitfalls with letting clients pester a
relational database directly, but that used to be the way of things unless
you had the money to spend on middleware.

--Steve

On Mon, May 28, 2012 at 8:42 PM, Michael B. Smith <[email protected]>wrote:

>  I’m still working with Christopher.****
>
> ** **
>
> There are several challenges here. We are talking about ClientBuilder, not
> PowerBuilder.****
>
> ** **
>
> ClientBuilder generally contacts a mainframe DB, not a “local” or
> client/server DB.****
>
> ** **
>
> So, it is common to execute a client application (built in ClientBuilder)
> that accesses a mainframe DB via a specified username/password or via a
> default username/password that is not the same as the username/password of
> the user executing the client application.****
>
> ** **
>
> *From:* Steve Kradel [mailto:[email protected]]
> *Sent:* Monday, May 28, 2012 4:43 PM
>
> *To:* NT System Admin Issues
> *Subject:* Re: PowerBuilder ODBC connection to SQL with alternate
> credentials****
>
> ** **
>
> This thread's a little old, but I meant to chime in with one reasonably
> major point: switching off user-specific authentication and authorization
> to the database server can have many ill consequences if that is the core
> of the system's security model.  There might be no other tier to this thing
> (and there probably isn't, given the system's age and the state of
> PowerBuilder-type development twelve years ago)...  If you bump it over to
> a static, SQL-based identity, the application could lose all context of who
> is logging in, taking an action, etc.****
>
> ** **
>
> Question is, why do you want to hard-code credentials into the connection
> string?  What is wrong with Windows authorization to SQL?****
>
> ** **
>
> --Steve****
>
> On Thu, May 24, 2012 at 4:55 PM, Michael B. Smith <[email protected]>
> wrote:****
>
> Uh…. Sure, WTH. No promises. When I last used it, it was on Sybase SQL 4.1
> (just before it became Microsoft SQL).****
>
>  ****
>
> *From:* Christopher Bodnar [mailto:[email protected]]
> *Sent:* Thursday, May 24, 2012 4:37 PM****
>
>
> *To:* NT System Admin Issues
> *Subject:* RE: PowerBuilder ODBC connection to SQL with alternate
> credentials****
>
>  ****
>
> Any interest in looking at some of the code?
>
> Thanks ** **
>
> *Christopher Bodnar*
> Enterprise Achitect I, Corporate Office of Technology:Enterprise
> Architecture and Engineering Services ****
>
> Tel 610-807-6459
> 3900 Burgess Place, Bethlehem, PA 18017
> [email protected] ****
>
>
> *
> The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America*
> *
> *www.guardianlife.com ****
>
>
>
>
>
>
> From:        "Michael B. Smith" <[email protected]>
> To:        "NT System Admin Issues" <[email protected]
> >
> Date:        05-24-12 04:11 PM
> Subject:        RE: PowerBuilder ODBC connection to SQL with alternate
> credentials ****
>  ------------------------------
>
>
>
>
> Wow, that’s a blast from the past. I haven’t used that since around
> 1998/99.
>
> It’s now part of Progress Software and called Z/Presentation.
>
> *From:* Christopher Bodnar 
> [mailto:[email protected]<[email protected]>]
> *
> Sent:* Thursday, May 24, 2012 3:04 PM*
> To:* NT System Admin Issues*
> Subject:* RE: PowerBuilder ODBC connection to SQL with alternate
> credentials
>
> Update, the developer just informed me that this is not PowerBuilder, but
> ClientBuilder. I've never heard of this before. Not even sure they are
> around. This is the only thing online that I've been able to find that
> references it:
> *
> *
> http://www.thefreelibrary.com/ClientSoft+Announces+ClientBuilder+8.0%3B+New+Version+Offers...-a0123206721
> ****
>
> *Christopher Bodnar*
> Enterprise Achitect I, Corporate Office of Technology:Enterprise
> Architecture and Engineering Services ****
>
> Tel 610-807-6459
> 3900 Burgess Place, Bethlehem, PA 18017 *
> *[email protected] ****
>
> *
>
> The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America**
>
> *www.guardianlife.com ****
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> From:        Christopher Bodnar <[email protected]>
> To:        "NT System Admin Issues" <[email protected]
> >
> Date:        05-24-12 10:33 AM
> Subject:        RE: PowerBuilder ODBC connection to SQL with alternate
> credentials ****
>
>  ****
>  ------------------------------
>
>
>
>
>
> Thanks Michael,
>
> That is actually where the example I listed below came from. I've also got
> an example of a PowerBuilder 9 app that shows how to do it. So I can't
> believe that functionality doesn't exist in PowerBuilder 8.5.1. My guess is
> that the code is wrong, and I've asked for the developer to send it over
> for me to review.
>
> Thanks for your help. ****
>
> *Christopher Bodnar*
> Enterprise Achitect I, Corporate Office of Technology:Enterprise
> Architecture and Engineering Services ****
>
> Tel 610-807-6459
> 3900 Burgess Place, Bethlehem, PA 18017 *
> *[email protected] ****
>
> *
>
> The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America**
>
> *www.guardianlife.com ****
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> From:        "Michael B. Smith" <[email protected]>
> To:        "NT System Admin Issues" <[email protected]
> >
> Date:        05-24-12 10:08 AM
> Subject:        RE: PowerBuilder ODBC connection to SQL with alternate
> credentials ****
>
>  ****
>  ------------------------------
>
>
>
>
>
> Yes. See here for samples:
> *
> *http://www.connectionstrings.com/sql-server-2008
> *
> From:* Christopher Bodnar 
> [mailto:[email protected]<[email protected]>]
> *
> Sent:* Thursday, May 24, 2012 9:55 AM*
> To:* NT System Admin Issues*
> Subject:* OT: PowerBuilder ODBC connection to SQL with alternate
> credentials
>
> Got a call from a developer. Seems there is an old PowerBuilder 8.5.1
> application that currently uses the users current credentials for the ODBC
> connection to a back end SQL server. The question to me was, can they have
> it use alternate credentials. So the user would logon to Windows, the app
> would authenticate them using their windows logon, but the ODBC connection
> in the application would use an alternate set of credentials to connect to
> the SQL database.
>
> I'm not a developer and I don't know PowerBuilder at all, but shouldn't
> this be possible with the connection string in the application? Something
> like this?
>
> Driver={SQL Server Native Client
> 10.0};Server=myServerAddress;Database=myDataBase;Uid=myUsername;Pwd=myPassword;
>
>
>
>
> Any help appreciated.
>
> Thanks ****
>
> *Christopher Bodnar*
> Enterprise Achitect I, Corporate Office of Technology:Enterprise
> Architecture and Engineering Services ****
>
> Tel 610-807-6459
> 3900 Burgess Place, Bethlehem, PA 18017 *
> *[email protected] ****
>
> *
>
> The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America**
>
> *www.guardianlife.com ****
>
>

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