User.IsInRole throwing a A network-related or instance-specific error

Question

I have this very basic MVC4 application conencted to a database via Object Entity Model. The connection between the application and database is fine, because a user is able to login and the below code in the Global.asax is working (which retrieves the user roles successfully from the database.

protected void Application_AuthenticateRequest(object sender, EventArgs args)
    {
        if (User != null)
        {

            IEnumerable<CommonLayer.Roles> roles = new BusinessLayer.Roles().getAllUserRoles(Context.User.Identity.Name);

            string[] rolesArray = new string[roles.Count()];
            for (int i = 0; i < roles.Count(); i++)
            {
                rolesArray[i] = roles.ElementAt(i).RoleName;
            }

            GenericPrincipal gp = new GenericPrincipal(Context.User.Identity, rolesArray);
            Context.User = gp;
        }
    }

The error is occuring on the following line:

@if(User.IsInRole("Administrator"))
    {
       <span>testtttt</span>
    }

Instead of the above, I also tried the following but still got the same error:

Roles.AddUserToRole("test.user","Administrator");

The exact error is:

A network-related or instance-specific error occurred while establishing a connection to SQL Server. The server was not found or was not accessible. Verify that the instance name is correct and that SQL Server is configured to allow remote connections. (provider: SQL Network Interfaces, error: 26 - Error Locating Server/Instance Specified)

Stack trace:

[SqlException (0x80131904): A network-related or instance-specific error occurred while establishing a connection to SQL Server. The server was not found or was not accessible. Verify that the instance name is correct and that SQL Server is configured to allow remote connections. (provider: SQL Network Interfaces, error: 26 - Error Locating Server/Instance Specified)]
   System.Data.SqlClient.SqlInternalConnection.OnError(SqlException exception, Boolean breakConnection, Action`1 wrapCloseInAction) +5340635
   System.Data.SqlClient.TdsParser.ThrowExceptionAndWarning(TdsParserStateObject stateObj, Boolean callerHasConnectionLock, Boolean asyncClose) +244
   System.Data.SqlClient.TdsParser.Connect(ServerInfo serverInfo, SqlInternalConnectionTds connHandler, Boolean ignoreSniOpenTimeout, Int64 timerExpire, Boolean encrypt, Boolean trustServerCert, Boolean integratedSecurity, Boolean withFailover) +5350895
   System.Data.SqlClient.SqlInternalConnectionTds.AttemptOneLogin(ServerInfo serverInfo, String newPassword, SecureString newSecurePassword, Boolean ignoreSniOpenTimeout, TimeoutTimer timeout, Boolean withFailover) +145
   System.Data.SqlClient.SqlInternalConnectionTds.LoginNoFailover(ServerInfo serverInfo, String newPassword, SecureString newSecurePassword, Boolean redirectedUserInstance, SqlConnectionString connectionOptions, SqlCredential credential, TimeoutTimer timeout) +922
   System.Data.SqlClient.SqlInternalConnectionTds.OpenLoginEnlist(TimeoutTimer timeout, SqlConnectionString connectionOptions, SqlCredential credential, String newPassword, SecureString newSecurePassword, Boolean redirectedUserInstance) +307
   System.Data.SqlClient.SqlInternalConnectionTds..ctor(DbConnectionPoolIdentity identity, SqlConnectionString connectionOptions, SqlCredential credential, Object providerInfo, String newPassword, SecureString newSecurePassword, Boolean redirectedUserInstance, SqlConnectionString userConnectionOptions, SessionData reconnectSessionData) +518
   System.Data.SqlClient.SqlConnectionFactory.CreateConnection(DbConnectionOptions options, DbConnectionPoolKey poolKey, Object poolGroupProviderInfo, DbConnectionPool pool, DbConnection owningConnection, DbConnectionOptions userOptions) +5353705
   System.Data.ProviderBase.DbConnectionFactory.CreateNonPooledConnection(DbConnection owningConnection, DbConnectionPoolGroup poolGroup, DbConnectionOptions userOptions) +38
   System.Data.ProviderBase.DbConnectionFactory.TryGetConnection(DbConnection owningConnection, TaskCompletionSource`1 retry, DbConnectionOptions userOptions, DbConnectionInternal oldConnection, DbConnectionInternal& connection) +5355906
   System.Data.ProviderBase.DbConnectionInternal.TryOpenConnectionInternal(DbConnection outerConnection, DbConnectionFactory connectionFactory, TaskCompletionSource`1 retry, DbConnectionOptions userOptions) +146
   System.Data.ProviderBase.DbConnectionClosed.TryOpenConnection(DbConnection outerConnection, DbConnectionFactory connectionFactory, TaskCompletionSource`1 retry, DbConnectionOptions userOptions) +16
   System.Data.SqlClient.SqlConnection.TryOpenInner(TaskCompletionSource`1 retry) +94
   System.Data.SqlClient.SqlConnection.TryOpen(TaskCompletionSource`1 retry) +110
   System.Data.SqlClient.SqlConnection.Open() +96
   System.Web.Management.SqlServices.GetSqlConnection(String server, String user, String password, Boolean trusted, String connectionString) +75

[HttpException (0x80004005): Unable to connect to SQL Server database.]
   System.Web.Management.SqlServices.GetSqlConnection(String server, String user, String password, Boolean trusted, String connectionString) +130
   System.Web.Management.SqlServices.SetupApplicationServices(String server, String user, String password, Boolean trusted, String connectionString, String database, String dbFileName, SqlFeatures features, Boolean install) +89
   System.Web.Management.SqlServices.Install(String database, String dbFileName, String connectionString) +27
   System.Web.DataAccess.SqlConnectionHelper.CreateMdfFile(String fullFileName, String dataDir, String connectionString) +386

Answer 1

I had this same problem with an application that was previously using SimpleMembership but which had been changed to use a Single Sign-on based on Owin Authentication Middleware. Adding the following to my web.config resolved the issue for me:

<system.webServer>
  <modules>
    <remove name="RoleManager" />
  </modules>
</system.webServer>