Is there a best practice on how to connect to a SQL Server database from a 2-tier application?

Question

I'm developing a desktop client application in wpf and I want to put my database which I currently have in Access on our SQL Server instance. I don't think it's a good idea to use windows authentication, because then every user should be added to sql server and given the necessary rights. So another option is to make a user in SQL Server for that specific application. I also read you can make a client app connect to the database through SQL Server Native Client but then I need it installed on every PC. So I guess my question is, what is the proper way to do this?

Answer 1

If you are in a secure, lan enviroment, Windows auth is absolutely the way to go. This way you don't have a separate set of login credentials for every user, and you don't need login credentials stored/entered on the application, itself.

If you are in an over-the-internet situation, your should not be permitting direct connection to the SQL server at all.