How to validate SQL Server traffic is encrypted?

Question

I need to prove that the encryption settings we have in our app\'s connection string are working.

What would be the simplest way to validate that traffic from our web

Answer 1

To guarantee that encryption is being used, you need to enable the force encryption option on the server.

Client side encryption is not mandatory. Server side is mandatory.

When the SQL Server service starts, it will stop if it can not read the certificate or there are other obstacles. It will not accept unencrypted connections.

To answer, I used a packet sniffer the first I used encryption to check, then I just relied on the fact that server side encryption is mandatory and SQL won't start.

For SQL 2000, KB 276553

Keep in mind that there is a current SQL Server limitation if you enable encryption on the server. Encryption will be for all incoming connections. If you enable encryption on the client computer, all outgoing connections from that client try to make an encrypted connection to any SQL Server.

A KB search for SQL 2005

Late edit:

Use an older version of the MS JDBC client: it can't handle server side encryption...