Most of us deal with service accounts when we setup a new instance of SQL Server. While some other OS level tasks might be delegated to system administrators, usually it's the DBA that has to pick and implement the service accounts.
I've always been a fan of choosing a complicated, one-time password for service accounts, something that is hard to crack since these often are privileged accounts, at least within SQL Server. And since they rarely change in my experience, I had a question this Friday:
Do You Need To Keep Service Account Passwords?
My short answer is "No." You don't need to remember, write down, or otherwise record the service account password. You generate it, type it into the service account dialog, and forget it. If you need to test something as the service account, say some service or permissions, you either create a new account with the same groups for permissions or you set a new service account password.
However I'm sure that some of you might have reasons that you should keep the password handy for some reason and I'd like to know what you think.
Steve Jones
The Voice of the DBA Podcasts
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