Azure SQL Database Error 18456 – Severity 14, State 1

azure-sql-databaselogins

Why can't I login to my SQL Server database on Azure, and how do I correct this? No one in our company has changed the password of our Azure SQL Server database administrator user, yet I'm getting the error noted below when I use SQL Server Management Studio 2017 on my local PC and try to connect to my Azure database as I always have:

Server Name: XXXX.database.windows.net
Error Number: 18456
Severity: 14
State: 1
Line Number: 65536

According to Microsoft (https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/relational-databases/errors-events/mssqlserver-18456-database-engine-error?view=sql-server-2017), Error 18456 is a logon failure. I'm not sure what the Severity value means. But as for the State value of 1, it means, "Error information is not available. This state usually means you do not have permission to receive the error details. Contact your SQL Server administrator for more information."

Unfortunately, the Azure support website is down so I can't investigate further.

Best Answer

Azure is having a pretty major outage right now!

Microsoft has warned that a "subset of customers in South Central US" may experience Azure problems today after cooling issues sent the servers scurrying for the shutdown button.

The warning was first raised by Microsoft at 09:29 UTC as pretty much everything in the South Central US region went offline thanks to a temperature spike that caused servers to automatically shut down to avoid damage.

I'd suggest following @AzureSupport to stay updated.

Unfortunately, the Azure support website is down so I can't investigate further.

Is a pretty good clue as to what's going on.

Related Solutions

SQL Server – Login Failed for User – Error 18456 – Severity 14, State 38

State codes and their meaning.

1      'Account is locked out'
2      'User id is not valid'
3-4    'Undocumented'
5      'User id is not valid'
6      'Undocumented'
7      'The login being used is disabled'
8      'Incorrect password'
9      'Invalid password'
10     'Related to a SQL login being bound to Windows domain password policy enforcement.
        See KB925744.'
11-12  'Login valid but server access failed'
16     'Login valid, but not permissioned to use the target database'
18     'Password expired'
27     'Initial database could not be found'
38     'Login valid but database unavailable (or login not permissioned)'

More detailed information is available in Aaron Bertrand's blog.

To find the status code, you need to inspect the SQL Server Error Log after ensuring that failed logins are recorded in the error log.

Sql-server – Login failed for user Error: 18456 State: 10

The state 38 error is probably a red herring: focus on the state 10 errors.

While KB Article #925744 says it is for SQL Server 2005, that is simply because of the date it was written. The symptom it causes would affect all versions of SQL Server that have been released since then in similar or identical ways.

Now, if user is a Windows login, perhaps you are somehow trying to authenticate as a Windows login without specifying the domain, or perhaps you are specifying the domain but the domain controller is unreliable or on an unreliable network connection. You should post your actual connection string in the question (fudging our real names/passwords of course).

You should also consider creating a new, separate login with the same permissions, and see if you intermittently get the same error with that other user as well - my guess this is an architectural problem in some way as opposed to a problem with just this user.

Another possibility is if your .net application is using Windows auth and the underlying password has been changed. Seems like a long shot, but check out the article and there is a hotfix available: KB Article #2545850.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

SQL Server – Login Failed for User – Error 18456 – Severity 14, State 38

Sql-server – Login failed for user Error: 18456 State: 10

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