February 8, 2007 at 2:25 pm
Hi,
We are planning to change the service startup account password for all our sql servers. Can anyone let me know the steps that i need to do for this? do i need to add anything to the below mentioned steps? Please let me know.
1. Go to control panel->administrative tools->services->MS SQL SERVER (change the password by going into properties)
2. Do the same for SQL SERVER AGENT
3. Goto Enterprise Manager and change the password by going into sql server properties->security.
4. do the same for SQL SERVER AGENT
5. restart the sql server and other services.
Thanks
February 8, 2007 at 3:32 pm
February 9, 2007 at 12:01 am
Also you can use SQL Server Configuration Manager (SSCM) to do the same instead of using services directly.
thanks
sanjeev
February 9, 2007 at 6:50 am
February 9, 2007 at 8:53 am
Thanks everyone for the replies. so i understand that the steps i have mentioned are correct right? Please let me know.
February 9, 2007 at 9:00 am
not really, no. You don't have to do anything with the control panel/services bit... You can, but it's really not advised, only make the change there if you plan on manually fixing all of the stuff that breaks. That's all listed in the KB article that jo mentioned.
Making the change via enterprise manager will take care of those steps for you.
Just do the following...
3. Goto Enterprise Manager and change the password by going into sql server properties->security.
4. do the same for SQL SERVER AGENT
5. restart the sql server and other services.
February 9, 2007 at 9:41 am
A silly question, sorry about that
once i change the password in the enterprise manager and restart the services, will i be able to remotely login onto the server with the domainname\service startup account and the new password.
February 9, 2007 at 9:47 am
Sure as long as your change the domain password as well. I wouldn't see why you wouldn't. In other words, once you change the domain password then make the changes in EM so that when the services restart they will authenticate correctly.
Are you talking about logging onto windows or using that username/password to log into the SQL server?
February 9, 2007 at 10:15 am
My understanding is the id and password that i use to login onto the box remotely using the service account should match with the id and password that i mention in the sql server->properties->security? am i correct.
where do i need to change the domain password? can you please explain in detail. i am getting confused.
February 9, 2007 at 11:06 am
OK, the domain username and password that the SQL service is just that. It's just a username and password. Like any other process, when the SQL service(and sQL agent and any other service) starts whatever username and password is listed for that service is what the service attempts to autenticate with. If authentication fails the service can't start. More than likely, the domain account your Sql Server service runs as is an account whose password is set to never expire. Therefor you need to change that password on the domain before you reset the SQL service accounts passwords. This can be done via the Active directory Users and Computers Tool, or by loggign in to a computer as that account, hitting control+alt+delete and clicking the change password button, or by any of the numerous other ways you can change a password depending on your environment.
Another way to look at this is as a normal user account. Say I have a User account in your domain. I log onto a computer in your domain by giving it my username and password. When I do this, the computer checks with a domain controller to see if I entered a valid combination, if so it lets me log on. If I entered the correct username but the wrong password, it wouldn't let me log on. If I'm the SQL Server Service, you need to set the password for my account(via AD Users and Computers or whatnot) and then tell me what password to use (Via EM) and then restart the service. If I have the wrong password I'll continue to try to authenticate with that wrong password and I'll eventually get my account locked out and I'll(the SQL Service) never start.
As far as logging onto the machine your SQL Server resides on, it depends on your environment. I'm an admin on my server so I log in remotely with my own user account, not the one my SQL service use, because I've granted myself the appropriat permissions. By default on windows servers with Terminal Services running in Remote Administration mode, any user that's an administrator of the machine can log into it via a remote console (terminal services, remote desktops etc.). If your'e talkign about accessing the machien remotely via Enterprise Manager and Query Analyser, as long as your have the appropriate permissions set for your own account, none of that wil need to be changed...
Perhaps if you provide a bit more information on your environment and why you're changeing the SQL server Service accounts we may be better able to help you.
-Luke.
February 9, 2007 at 12:08 pm
Thank you so much for the detailed information.
We have all our servers set up by some other team and they handed over the servers to us. Now the servers are under our control and we were also given the service account id and passwords that are used while setting up the service accounts.
Now we would like to change those service account passwords to our standards so that no one can go into our servers.
In order to do that i just need to know the steps as to how to do before testing it in the development environment.
This is what i am planning 2 do
1. Log on to the Microsoft® Windows NT® 4.0 or Microsoft Windows® 2000 server by specifying the name and password used to start Microsoft SQL Server™ services. (From your information i understand that this can be changed by hitting ctrl+alt+del and change password and we have to change it with the password that we are using to start the sql server. am i right?)
2. Go to enterprise manager server ->properties->security. change the password there
3. do the same for sql server agent
4. restart the services
if you need any further information i can let you know.
Thanks a lot for your help!!!!
February 9, 2007 at 12:34 pm
February 9, 2007 at 12:57 pm
Thanks again!!!
Viewing 13 posts - 1 through 12 (of 12 total)
You must be logged in to reply to this topic. Login to reply