What are service accounts in SQL Server?

What are service accounts in SQL Server?

SQL Server service accounts allow SQL Server to run with the rights and privileges assigned to the service account. When running under Windows NT or Windows 2000, SQL Server and SQL Server Agent run as services. These can be viewed, started, and configured under the Services applet in Control Panel.

What is group managed service account?

Group managed service accounts (gMSAs) are managed domain accounts that you use to help secure services. gMSAs can run on a single server or on a server farm, such as systems behind a network load balancing or Internet Information Services (IIS) server.

What is service account used for?

Service accounts are a special type of non-human privileged account used to execute applications and run automated services, virtual machine instances, and other processes. Service accounts can be privileged local or domain accounts, and in some cases, they may have domain administrative privileges.

How do I create a group managed service account?

How do I create a gMSA?

  1. Create group of NETID computers to associate with gMSA.
  2. Create gMSA & associate with group from step #1.
  3. Install the gMSA on the computer(s)
  4. Configure the service, IIS app pool, or scheduled task to use the gMSA.

Is there a group managed service account in SQL Server?

You can configure SQL Server services to use a group managed service account principal. Beginning with SQL Server 2014, SQL Server supports group managed service accounts for standalone instances, and SQL Server 2016 and later for failover cluster instances, and availability groups.

What are the prerequisites for group managed service accounts?

Group Managed Service Account Prerequisites. To be able to make use of Managed Service Accounts with SQL Server there are certain prerequisites that need to be met, these are as follows: Domain Functional Level of 2012 or higher. SQL Server 2014 or higher. Window Server 2012 R2 Operating System.

How to create managed service accounts in Server 2012 R2?

There are a few steps involved in creating these managed service accounts on Server 2012 R2. First, there is a dependency on the Key Distribution Service starting with Server 2012 (in order to support group managed service accounts, though it’s now required for all managed service accounts).

What does group managed service account ( GMSA ) mean?

Group Managed Service Accounts A Group Managed Service Account (gMSA) is an MSA for multiple servers. Windows manages a service account for services running on a group of servers. Active Directory automatically updates the group managed service account password without restarting services.