Granting SQL Permission to an ASP Net App that hosts a WCF Data Service

Question

I'm reading a WCF Documentation about How to Develop a WCF Data Service Running on IIS, it creates an ASP NET Application and uses it to host a WCF Data Service.

I need to make sure that SQL Server Express will grant permission to the ASP Net app to access a database and expose a service to the net.

The documentation instructs to create a login in sql server to NT AUTHORITY\NETWORK SERVICE, and I get an error in sql saying that the user NT AUTH... was not found.

How can I create it in SQL Server 2012 Express (the one that comes with VS2012).

Isn't it a little different in Windows 7?, I read that the NT AUTHORITY is used in XP.

I'm using VS@012, SQL Server Express 2012, Windows 7 Ultimate x64.

Rafael

Answer 1

Your asp.net application is running with the credentials being used by the application pool that owns the process. If the application pool is running using the "Built-In Service Account", then the user will be local to that computer (when you add the account, select Location, select your computer, then enter IIS APPPOOL\<Application pool name> (where "" is the name of your application pool).

If you open Sql Server Management Studio [Express] you can find your database, drill into "Security", right click on "Users", select a User type of "Windows User" then select the user indicated above.

Note: The Network Service account exists in Windows 7 and 8. It is a local machine account.