Sunday, January 17, 2016

SQL Server Brain Basher of the Week #040 - SQL Server Services Account

Let's talk about accounts that can be assigned to the services related to SQL Server and how they can be assigned or changed later. Since SQL Services are Microsoft Windows services, changes related to the services can be done via Services Desktop App. In addition to that, with SQL Server installation, SQL Server Configuration Manager is installed and it can be used to manage services related to SQL Server too.

Here is the question for this week based on this.

Which application should be used for changing SQL Server service accounts?
  1. Services Desktop App only
  2. SQL Server Configuration Manager only
  3. Both Services Desktop App and SQL Server Configuration Manager.
What would be the answer? Or what would be the best?

Yes, you can use Services Desktop App for changing accounts related to SQL Server just like changing setting of other accounts. And since we have been given a SQL Server specific application, which  is Configuration Manager, it can be used too. Although both can be used, there is an advantage with SQL Server Configuration Manager. When a SQL Server service is updated with Configuration Manager, it knows which security groups should be updated, making the account as a member of them, and it does it immediately. This does not happen immediately with Services Desktop App until restart is done. Therefore, it is recommended to use SQL Server Configuration Manager instead of Services Desktop App.

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