Can I connect to SQL Server using Windows Authentication from Java EE webapp?

I am currently investigating how to make a connection to a SQL Server database from my Java EE web application using Windows Authentication instead of SQL Server authentication. I am running this app off of Tomcat 6.0, and am utilizing the Microsoft JDBC driver. My connection properties file looks as follows:

dbDriver              = com.microsoft.sqlserver.jdbc.SQLServerDriver
dbUser                = user
dbPass                = password
dbServer              = localhost:1433;databaseName=testDb
dbUrl                 = jdbc:sqlserver://localhost:1433

I have zero problems with connecting to a SQL Server database in this fashion when using SQL Server authentication.

Is there any way I can retrieve the credentials of the user's Windows Authentication and use that authentication for SQL Server?

UPDATE: I know in ASP.net there is a way to set up Windows Authentication for access to the webapp, which is exactly what I am looking for, except I want to pass that token off to SQL Server for access to the database.

I do not think one can push the user credentials from the browser to the database (and does it makes sense ? I think not)

But if you want to use the credentials of the user running Tomcat to connect to SQL Server then you can use Microsoft's JDBC Driver. Just build your JDBC URL like this:

jdbc:sqlserver://localhost;integratedSecurity=true;

And copy the appropriate DLL to Tomcat's bin directory (sqljdbc_auth.dll provided with the driver)

MSDN > Connecting to SQL Server with the JDBC Driver > Building the Connection URL

look at

http://jtds.sourceforge.net/faq.html#driverImplementation

What is the URL format used by jTDS?

The URL format for jTDS is:

jdbc:jtds:<server_type>://<server>[:<port>][/<database>][;<property>=<value>[;...]]

... domain Specifies the Windows domain to authenticate in. If present and the user name and password are provided, jTDS uses Windows (NTLM) authentication instead of the usual SQL Server authentication (i.e. the user and password provided are the domain user and password). This allows non-Windows clients to log in to servers which are only configured to accept Windows authentication.

If the domain parameter is present but no user name and password are provided, jTDS uses its native Single-Sign-On library and logs in with the logged Windows user's credentials (for this to work one would obviously need to be on Windows, logged into a domain, and also have the SSO library installed -- consult README.SSO in the distribution on how to do this).

This actually works for me:

Per the README.SSO that comes with the jtdsd distribution:

In order for Single Sign On to work, jTDS must be able to load the native SPPI library ntlmauth.dll. Place this DLL anywhere in the system path (defined by the PATH system variable) and you're all set.

I placed it in my jre/bin folder

I configured a port dedicated the sql server instance (2302) to alleviate the need for an instance name - just something I do. lportal is my database name.

jdbc.default.url=jdbc:jtds:sqlserver://192.168.0.147:2302/lportal;useNTLMv2=true;domain=mydomain.local

Unless you have some really compelling reason not to, I suggest ditching the MS JDBC driver.

Instead, use the jtds jdbc driver. Read the README.SSO file in the jtds distribution on how to configure for single-sign-on (native authentication) and where to put the native DLL to ensure it can be loaded by the JVM.

I was having issue with connecting to MS SQL 2005 using Windows Authentication. I was able to solve the issue with help from this and other forums. Here is what I did:

1. Install the JTDS driver
2. Do not use the "domain= " property in the jdbc:jtds:://[:][/][;=[;...]] string
3. Install the ntlmauth.dll in c:\windows\system32 directory (registration of the dll was not required) on the web server machine.
4. Change the logon identity for the Apache Tomcat service to a domain User with access to the SQL database server (it was not necessary for the user to have access to the dbo.master).

My environment: Windows XP clinet hosting Apache Tomcat 6 with MS SQL 2005 backend on Windows 2003