Andy Warren (8/12/2008)
Ross, I tried multiple ID's and the only way it worked (for me) was to have separate machines, one logged in as powerless me, other as SA me. Trying to switch back and forth just annoyed me. Part of being a DBA is never working without a net - thinking before executing and having a fall back plan.Not saying I recommend this approach, but its worked for me better than the multiple ID approach.
Our usual method for priovileged access is to use a Terminal Server session to do the work. We login to Citrix with the alternate ID and do whatever we need to do. That works well, and minimizes the risks as much as possible. There is a separate TS farm set up just for this sort of work.
Another option is remote desktop connections to tools on the server itself. We are on SQL 2000, so I don't know how that would work on a later version of SQL Server
I can understand the difficulties with two machines, or having to log in/out just to do a simple task. That was one of the drivers behind our TS and RDC options.