Question

I was able to use SQL Filestream fine locally but when I try to upload the files to a remote SQL server which uses SQL authentication, I get a Access Denied exception. Apparently, SQL Filestream only works with Windows Authentication (Integrated Security=true) and not with SQL Authentication which is what we currently have.

No one really uses Windows Authentication in production environment so I just want to know how to overcome this limitation. What’s the best practice?

    public static void AddItem(RepositoryFile repository, byte[] data)
{
    using (var scope = new TransactionScope())
    {
        using (var db = new MyEntities()) // DBContext
        {
            db.RepositoryTable.AddObject(repository);
            db.SaveChanges();
        }

        using (var con = new SqlConnection(ConfigurationManager.ConnectionStrings["ConnectionString"].ConnectionString))
        using (var cmd = new SqlCommand(string.Format("SELECT Data.PathName(), GET_FILESTREAM_TRANSACTION_CONTEXT() FROM dbo.RepositoryTable WHERE ID='{0}'", repository.ID), con)) // "Data" is the column name which has the FILESTREAM. Data.PathName() gives me the local path to the file.
        {
            cmd.Connection.Open();
            using (var reader = cmd.ExecuteReader())
            {
                while (reader.Read())
                {
                    var path = reader.GetString(0);
                    var transactionContext = reader.GetSqlBytes(1).Buffer;
                    var fileStream = new SqlFileStream(path, transactionContext, FileAccess.Write);

                    fileStream.Write(contents, 0, contents.Length); // I get the error at this line.
                    fileStream.Close();
                }
            }
        }

        scope.Complete();
    }
}

Answer 1

You indeed must use Integrated Authentication when using FILESTREAM:

FILESTREAM Storage in SQL Server 2008

You will need to make sure that the Windows account that the production application runs under has been added as a login in SQL Server and has been granted the same permissions as the SQL Authentication account the application currently uses.

You must also ensure that the account has file system permissions to write to the FILESTREAM container.