Are these the correct steps? Encrypted Connection String and Security

Hi,

Assume I have an asp.net/sql server 2000 web app in a shared hosting
environment. I then encrypt the connection string using
ProtectSection("DataProtectionConfigurationProvider") in the page load
of my default.aspx page.

Am I understanding the following concepts then correctly?

1. I upload the site to the shared hosting server.
2. The first time I run the app eg. www.whatever.com/default.aspx,
the ProtectSection method above is executed.
3. Now the conn string area of my web.config is encrypted, and
asp.net will decrypt as needed.

4. If someone were to hack the server and view the web.config --
whether via getting into the server or via ftp, they would see an
encrypted connection string.

Thanks very much!If the hosting server is shared then there is a risk, if not you have to rely upon the ISP.

Are Steps 1 and 3 of a replication agent job important?

Hello,
I am creating a custom job that will publish several publications to
subscribers. I will NOT be using the auto-generated jobs created by SQL
Server to perform these tasks, and instead I am performing this activity in
my custom job. I copied the job steps from the SQL generated jobs over to
mine.
However, I noticed that for every replication task, each job generated has 3
steps. Usually, they include something like the following steps:
1. Snapshot Agent startup message.
2. Run agent.
3. Detect nonlogged agent shutdown.
Because my custom job is very complex, I would prefer not to include steps 1
and 3 of every task as they dont seem to do anything important besides
logging. Before I remove them, I would like to ask for your feedback and/or
find out if I should keep these tasks there for any reason.
What will I miss out on if I remove them?
Johnny
I'd have to imagine you could get by without them... test it out and see
what happens.
"Johnny" <Johnny@.discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:E6274B37-FFBE-4A5A-9453-A2DDD4FB15A9@.microsoft.com...
> Hello,
> I am creating a custom job that will publish several publications to
> subscribers. I will NOT be using the auto-generated jobs created by SQL
> Server to perform these tasks, and instead I am performing this activity
> in
> my custom job. I copied the job steps from the SQL generated jobs over to
> mine.
> However, I noticed that for every replication task, each job generated has
> 3
> steps. Usually, they include something like the following steps:
> 1. Snapshot Agent startup message.
> 2. Run agent.
> 3. Detect nonlogged agent shutdown.
> Because my custom job is very complex, I would prefer not to include steps
> 1
> and 3 of every task as they dont seem to do anything important besides
> logging. Before I remove them, I would like to ask for your feedback
> and/or
> find out if I should keep these tasks there for any reason.
> What will I miss out on if I remove them?
> Johnny
>
|||I did test it out before and after and everything seems to work perfectly as
step 1 & 3 are simply logging startup and error messages. This works for both
the snapshot & distribution agents.
Johnny
"ChrisR" wrote:

> I'd have to imagine you could get by without them... test it out and see
> what happens.
>
> "Johnny" <Johnny@.discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:E6274B37-FFBE-4A5A-9453-A2DDD4FB15A9@.microsoft.com...
>
>
|||The first job step adds a message to the history table. The last step is
used to detect if the agent shut down (gpf'd) without an error message.
It is advisable to include these job steps.
Hilary Cotter
Looking for a SQL Server replication book?
http://www.nwsu.com/0974973602.html
Looking for a FAQ on Indexing Services/SQL FTS
http://www.indexserverfaq.com
"Johnny" <Johnny@.discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:3567799D-ACF3-4CF9-9329-6EC74CCFF89E@.microsoft.com...
> I did test it out before and after and everything seems to work perfectly
as
> step 1 & 3 are simply logging startup and error messages. This works for
both[vbcol=seagreen]
> the snapshot & distribution agents.
> Johnny
>
> "ChrisR" wrote:
SQL[vbcol=seagreen]
activity[vbcol=seagreen]
to[vbcol=seagreen]
has[vbcol=seagreen]
steps[vbcol=seagreen]