Patent ID: 7644285

Claim:
A computer readable medium storing computer executable instructions for connecting to a database, the computer executable instructions comprising functionality to perform the operations of: receiving, at a launcher application, a request from a user to obtain a file from the database, wherein the database is accessed by a software application, wherein the user logs in to the software application using a user name and a user password, wherein the software application signs on to the database using the user name and a database password, and wherein the database password comprises a hash of the user name and the user password; obtaining, at the launcher application and in response to the request, a file dump associated with the database and comprising an encrypted database password, wherein the encrypted database password is the database password encrypted using a public encryption key provided by a vendor of the software application, and wherein the encrypted database password is generated by the software application before receiving the request; decrypting, by the launcher application, the encrypted database password using a private key stored in the launcher application to obtain the database password, wherein the private key is provided by the vendor and stored in the launcher application before receiving the request; signing on to the database, using the launcher application, with the user name and the database password to obtain a temporary user name, wherein the user name has access to a set of data and functions in the database, wherein the temporary user name is restricted to a subset of the set of data and functions, and wherein the subset has less data and fewer functions than the set; signing on to the database, using the launcher application, with the temporary user name and the database password; sending a connect string including the database password and the temporary user name to a database tool; and accessing the database, using the database tool, to obtain the file stored in the database, wherein the database tool is separate from the launcher application, and wherein the launcher application and the software application execute on different computers.