Certificates and Keys

[djj55]

Hello, SQL Server 2008R2
If I create the master key, certificate, and symmetric key on server A\instance A and have log shipping setup to server b\instance b, will the keys and certificates be created for the second instance? So that if I need to failover we do not need to change code.
Thanks

djj
The Lord is my shepherd (Psalm 23) - I need someone to lead me!

 

[djj55]

To go along with this I also have the disaster failover problem. I can backup and restore the master key and the certificate, however, the symmetric key is where I am having a problem. If I use the IDENTITY_VALUE phrase I can recreate the key on the same session. If I do not use the IDENTITY_VALUE I cannot recreate the key. BOL say that the IDENTITY_VALUE should only be used for temporary keys.

I found MS suggests using reporting services to backup/restore the symmetric key but it did not work when I followed thier instructions.

So is there a way to backup or re-create the key without the IDENTITY_VALUE?

Here is my code

CREATE SYMMETRIC KEY My_Key_01 
    WITH ALGORITHM = AES_256, 
        KEY_SOURCE = 'abccd'
        ,IDENTITY_VALUE = 'phrase1' 
    ENCRYPTION BY CERTIFICATE MyCert01;
GO

djj
The Lord is my shepherd (Psalm 23) - I need someone to lead me!

 

[djj55]

Well I found an interesting article "Cloning" Symmetric Keys" by Michael Coles. This worked well.

What I have done is stored a backup of the master key, certificate, certificate encryption file. Also keep the Key_Source and Identity_Value phrases. These are not used at this time but are for disaster recovery.

Create a backup of the database.

Go to a different server, restore the database, in SSMS, go to the database, open the master key (password needed), execute the command:

ALTER MASTER KEY ADD ENCRYPTION BY SERVICE MASTER KEY 
GO

then open the symmectric key.


djj
The Lord is my shepherd (Psalm 23) - I need someone to lead me!