Windows App and SQL Server

Question

What's the best practice for a windows app connecting to a SQL Server that is hosted in the internet? I'm currently using an IP based connection string with SQL authentication, nothing special. However, some clients cannot connect using port 1433 and I'm assuming that the whole approach has some security concerns.

Answer 1

Exposing a SQL Server over the internet is fraught with security concerns. I suggest you read this MS article: Connecting to SQL Server over the Internet

Answer 2

There are four options to connect to sql server:

1. Shared Memory.
2. Named Pipes.
3. TCP/IP
4. VIA

Since you are exposing this via Internet, I think 3 is the only options. However, just as the previous post suggest, this is NOT a sound architecture. You really should wrap your business logic into a web service, and expose the web service instead of raw sql interface.