Cannot find the certificate

We get a T-SQL (SQL Server 2008 R2) error on BACKUP CERTIFICATE: ERROR_NUMBER 15151, SEVERITY 16, STATE 1, PROCEDURE -, LINE 8, MESSAGE: Cannot find the certificate 'certificate1', because it does not exist or you do not have permission.

We can see the certificate in master.sys.certificates.

Our pseudo-code:

• copy an unattached template_db to db1

• attach db1

• create certificate1 (in stored procedure in master db)

• generate @password

• CREATE DATABASE ENCRYPTION KEY … ENCRYPTION BY SERVER CERTIFICATE '+@certificate_name +… (in stored procedure in db1)

• turn on Transparent Database Encryption for db1 using certificate1. (N'ALTER DATABASE '+@db_name+N' SET ENCRYPTION ON')

• N’BACKUP CERTIFICATE '+@certificate_name+N' TO FILE = '''+@certificate_file_path+N''' WITH PRIVATE KEY ( FILE = '''+@private_key_file_path+N''', ENCRY开发者_StackOverflow中文版PTION BY PASSWORD = '''+@password+N''''

To try to work-around the error, we tested three ways with the BACKUP CERTIFICATE code in a different databases each time, including db1 and master. All get the same error.

Any ideas? Thanks.

We tried again, running BACKUP CERTIFICATE in the master DB, and it worked this time.