connecting to a grails app database - grails

I am a python developer by day, but I have some java experience as well (mostly with struts). At work I was handed a grails app to install, which was ok, but the owners of the app didn't supply any credentials, and the app loads to a login page.
I unpacked the war, but I think the DB config has been packaged into a jar somewhere, because I can't seem to find any connection URL. There's an h2 db file that's been created after I deployed the App, so I'm wondering:
how can I connect to the db like you normally would with SQLite or mysql client, browse tables, and create an admin user so I can login?

Go with decompilation. You need not only a user and password, but at least a database JDBC URL. That may include DBMS name, host, port, database name - depending on Java driver specifics. Then connect as you would normally in Python or whatever, or with DBVisualizer.
But if the database is in H2/hsql (URL is like jdbc:h2:mem:XXX), you've got a problem: it is a Java in-process DBMS. In order to gain external access to it, you'll need to change the decompiled code, compile and pack it back with some additions. Hope it's not your case.
Another way in hsql/H2 case is to find and decompile database bootstrap code - as it's an in-process DB, it should be filled at every application startup, so there should be a code creating that superuser.

In Grails, the DB configuration, including authentication settings, are declared in a file called Datasource.groovy which is then compiled into the WAR. You'll need the source code to find the username and password for the H2 DB.

I don't know if Python can connect to a java datasource but it may be a solution.
An other solution may be to provide some REST webservice from Grails side to make it possible for the python program to access the database. This is the way I prefer and I often choose.
By the way, you have the configuration of the databases used by Grails in the conf directory (grails-app/conf/DataSource.groovy) and you'll get the jdbc URL to the database which could be convert to a classical URL. For example : jdbc:mysql://localhost/my_app refers to the database my_app on localhost and default port for a mysql database.
Feel free to ask if you need more information.
Cheers

Related

Umbraco installation wizard Error - Could not connect to database

I'm trying to install Umbraco on an ASP.NET environment. After I downloaded the umbraco nuget package I tried to run the installation wizard, by building and running the project. All is fine and good, if i take the default database configuration, but if I want to customize my configuration, it fails and says :
"Could not connect to database"
I'm trying to configure it to use my local SQLExpress database, but I just cannot get it working. I have both tried putting in the server information and connecting via. a connection string, via. the wizard. It produces the same error every time.
I have made a database called umbracoblog and created an admin user, with credentials. He has dbowner etc. for the database. Besides that, I have also given full permissions to IIS_IUSRS and Network Service accounts for the project and all subdirectories, and it still doesn't work.
These are some of the connection strings I have tried:
datalayer=SqlServer;Data Source=.\SQLExpress;Initial Catalog=umbracoblog;User Id=admin;Password=********;
datalayer=SqlServer;Data Source=127.0.0.1\SQLExpress;Initial Catalog=umbracoblog;User Id=admin;Password=*******;
I have also tried putting in the connectionstring into the web.config, manually, but that just makes the project load infinitely in the browser, when I run it.
It's starting to get frustrating, that I cannot even get past the configuration of Umbraco, because it look very cool. I have tried everything I was able to found online. Have anyone gone through this and know what I need to do ?
Start again - clear out and remove the umbracoDbDSN connection string entirely from your web.config and reset the umbracoConfigurationStatus AppSetting back to empty if it has been populated.
Use the Wizard to configure the database - if it's still having problems connecting then here's a few things to check:
Check the Log file here: ~/App_Settings/Logs/UmbracoTraceLog.txt - does that show up any errors?
Make sure you can connect to the database using other clients - if Umbraco can't connect to it, chances are something else won't be able to as well.
What happens if you use Integrated Authentication? If that works, then it's most likely an issue with the username and password you specified.
The password I had for the SQL Server user had a character that the installation UI didn't accept. I changed the password to remove special characters and it was able to connect to the server again. I could successfully log in through SSMS with the previous password.

how to connect UNC-located database to embedded server?

I have next specific situation. I have an application using Firebird embedded server. The files: application executive, database, fbembed.dll are located in the same folder. Everything is good and working good.
Now my client says so:
I would like to place all your application file on a server and run it via local network from all workstations.
So as I see I start application on the server and it starts. But database connection string looks now like:
//SERVER/share/db.fdb
Yes, I know conventions about allowed firebird paths from here: FAQ: What's a connection string?
I do not understand what should I use with embedded server? Is it possible at all?
If you want to access a Firebird database over the network, then you need to install Firebird server and connect through the server. You can't (at least not by default) access a database from a network path, and you really shouldn't (although there is a config option to allow it), as it can lead to database corruption due to insufficient or incorrect filelocking support over the network.
So: Don't use Firebird embedded, but install Firebird server and configure the clients to connect to Firebird server.

Migrating .NET Database to Shared Hosting

Built an app locally with an EF code-first database - not sure how to upload it to a shared hosting environment such as GoDaddy. It makes sense that something would be amiss because on the shared hosting your code can't just go create a database, but on the flip side I can't find anything to copy the CREATE sql and create it on the server like you would with MySQL
Feel a little silly because I've been using .NET for over a year now but at work the databases are already set up and we have full control over our environments.
If the database has no data that you need to preserve the easiest method is just to install the app on the new host and set the connection string to your new database on the host. On the first attempt to load a page accessing the database, the database will automatically be created (note that you need to load a page which hits the database - sometimes the home page is not sufficient).
This method is a lot more straightforward than generating SQL and then executing it on the production database.
If there is data that you need to preserve then the best method will be taking a backup and installing the backup on the host. In SSMS simply right-click the database in the left pane, then Tools > Backup... To restore on the server connect to the server in SSMS and right-click the 'Database' node in the left panel and select 'Restore Database...' I'm not sure if the host provides a direct connection from SSMS but they should at a minimum have a mechanism to restore a .bak file.
Going forward you should ensure that you can execute SQL on your database as a very convenient method for deploying EF Migrations is to generate the SQL update script on the development server and then deploy this by executing it in production.
Depending on your web host, you may be able to restore the database. If this is an option, simply back up your database on your local machine and restore it on the server via the management console.
You can back up your local database using SQL Server Management Console. This works well even for larger databases as you can directly restore all your data, your schema, etc.
I've had experience with three different hosts so far and all of them have this as an option. You'll usually find this under the Database tab for the web site. The rest from there is up to you because it's usually different across the various hosts.

How to upgrade mantis bug tracker database online?

Your database has not been created yet. Please create the database, then install the tables and data using the information above before proceeding.
Use a ftp/sftp/scp app like WinSCP to examine your directory.
There's usually a readme file in the directory.
Read it and do what it says. It'll likely say to run a script, visit an admin page (and then remove it when you're done), etc.. Or it may say to create your database, and enter the relevant info (hostname, directory, userid/pwd) into a .config file or something.
Oh, and you probably need to have a database created on the host before you do this. Sites like dreamhost and pair have control panels where you create the database, and give the admin/dba userid/passwords. Then it comes back with the server host name/directory where you will point your config to.

How can I create a local user profile for the anonymous user of an ASP.Net MVC application under IIS 7?

I've been experimenting with ASP.Net MVC, and have come across a problem that is probably not specifically MVC related. But I cannot get the authentication in the default MVC application (the one created by the wizard when you create a new MVC project) to work properly under IIS 7 on Windows 7.
If I run under the Visual Studio environment, it works, but if I switch the settings to run under IIS instead, I get the following exception trying to submit the login or registration:
Failed to generate a user instance of
SQL Server due to failure in
retrieving the user's local
application data path. Please make
sure the user has a local user profile
on the computer. The connection will
be closed.
I believe that this is because the website runs under my own account in Visual Studio, but under the IUSR account in IIS. Google searches on the exception message have been unhelpful so far.
So, can one create a local user profile for the IUSR account? If so, how? Is there something else I should be doing to get the SQLExpress engine to work under the anonymous account in IIS 7?
I also tried configuring the IIS website to use my account, but since this is my home machine, my account doesn't have a password, and it appears that IIS won't let a website be configured to use an account without a password. Or, since this is my first experience with IIS 7, and configuration feels very different than IIS 5/6, I am just missing the right setting that will let me configure the account to use for anonymous access.
EDIT: Some additional information. If I empty the App_Data folder and try again from IIS, SQLExpress attempts to create my database and fails, but the exception message has further information with the following suggestions.
SQLExpress database file auto-creation
error:
The connection string specifies a
local Sql Server Express instance
using a database location within the
applications App_Data directory. The
provider attempted to automatically
create the application services
database because the provider
determined that the database does not
exist. The following configuration
requirements are necessary to
successfully check for existence of
the application services database and
automatically create the application
services database:
If the applications App_Data directory does not already exist, the
web server account must have read and
write access to the applications
directory. This is necessary because
the web server account will
automatically create the App_Data
directory if it does not already
exist.
If the applications App_Data directory already exists, the web
server account only requires read and
write access to the applications
App_Data directory. This is necessary
because the web server account will
attempt to verify that the Sql Server
Express database already exists within
the applications App_Data directory.
Revoking read access on the App_Data
directory from the web server account
will prevent the provider from
correctly determining if the Sql
Server Express database already
exists. This will cause an error when
the provider attempts to create a
duplicate of an already existing
database. Write access is required
because the web server accounts
credentials are used when creating the
new database.
Sql Server Express must be installed on the machine.
The process identity for the web server account must have a local user
profile. See the readme document for
details on how to create a local user
profile for both machine and domain
accounts.
I've pretty extensively confirmed that the first three suggestions have been satisfied. The fourth seems to be the cause of my problems, but I can't figure out how to do that. And although the suggestion claims there is a readme document that describes it, I have not been able to find that document.
I got this problem as well running under medium trust. The process that creates the database requires at least High trust. You can check this by looking in your Web.Config for
<trust level="TrustLevel" />
If there is no trust specified in your Web.Config, try adding it and set it to either Full or High. If this doesn't work, there is a machine.config in your IIS which you would need to modify.
That being said, the best route I have found to solve this is to just use aspnet_regsql.exe to create the necessary tables and then change the connection string in your Web.Config to look at it directly.
I solved "The directory 'LocalApplicationData' does not exist." error when running an SSIS package through an SQL Job by ensuring the SQL SSIS service and SQL Server Agent service were running under the same account as the swql job was set to use!
This in my case was a domain account.
Solution: Try UNINSTALLING any updates before you started experiencing the issue. I spent countless hours - wasted hours that I will never get back in my life - reading and following every solution possible without success. I uninstalled all SQL Server updates and now everything works fine.

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