Can we use Certificate based Authentication for connecting to On Prem SQL Server?

Question

Hi Experts,

We use a PowerShell command to connect to the SQL Server by creating a connection string. In the PowerShell script, we have to encode the username and password for creating the connection string and passing it to the SQL Server. The SQL Server is on-premises.

Is there any way we can use certificate-based authentication for connecting to the SQL Server using the connection string in PowerShell?

Or any other way than encoding the password in the Script as plain text???

Thanks

Answer 1

Hi，Anant Bera

Using a certificate is not directly related to requiring a plaintext password. PowerShell uses Windows authentication by default, so it does not require entering a plaintext password. If you log in using a SQL Server user and want to hide the plaintext password, please use Virtual drive.

The sqldrive function prompts you to enter the password for your login, masking the password as you type it in.

Alternatively, you can use the sqlcmd utility to avoid directly typing a plaintext password in the connection string.

Using -P should be considered insecure. Avoid giving the password on the command line. Alternatively, use the SQLCMDPASSWORD environment variable, or interactively input the password by omitting the -P option.

Best Regards,

Mikey Qiao

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