August 5, 2014 at 7:33 am
Hi there!
I've got a bit of a problem with an overzealous sysadmin that believes server maintenance during our maintenance window is entirely unnecessary, and as such, is stopping my maintenance jobs on a daily basis at 2:00 A.M. While I admire his dedication in coming in so very early in the morning to ensure our server runs like garbage and we have no backups, I don't think I want this to continue. 😛
Unfortunately, I'm not quite sure how to prohibit him from doing this. I've revoked the sysadmin role on his login (he doesn't need that much access anyhow), but there's a general SA-type login that administrators know the password to.
I know that trying to prevent someone with an SA account from doing anything on the server is pretty much a futile endeavor, since sysadmin tends to glide right over any existing security measures. However, he's pretty much going to be using the SSMS GUI to stop the jobs every time; therefore, is there some way to stop him from having GUI access to stopping the jobs?
I understand if this isn't possible, and I can certainly work some underhanded procedure into the whole thing (like just writing up a step in an existing job that he wouldn't suspect), but I'd rather just annihilate the entire problem, if possible.
Oh, and I've tried speaking with management. No joy there. The sysadmin is a family friend, so whatever he does is correct by default. *Sigh*. The joys of being an easily-ignored staff member are many. 🙁
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August 5, 2014 at 12:23 pm
Andrew Kernodle (8/5/2014)Unfortunately, I'm not quite sure how to prohibit him from doing this. I've revoked the sysadmin role on his login (he doesn't need that much access anyhow), but there's a general SA-type login that administrators know the password to.
That's worse than the guy uses his own account.
I don't know what your role is your organisation, but if your job description includes the word "security", this is what you need to address. Having a general account with a shared password is something I would never accept.
If you lose the political battle, that may end with that you will have restore his personal sysadmin access. Maybe then it's time to look for a new job.
No, there are no options to stop this in the UI.
[font="Times New Roman"]Erland Sommarskog, SQL Server MVP, www.sommarskog.se[/font]
August 5, 2014 at 1:59 pm
Yep, it's definitely not advisable, but various people in management have their own SA-level accounts attached to the server, and then there's the main SA-level account for management. Not advisable, but it's what the vendor software we're using does, and it's certainly not the pinnacle of good design 🙁
I'm not exactly tasked with security here, unfortunately, and my advice regarding the (in)security of the system has largely been met with apathy. Now, that apathy is starting to extend my questioning of other, non-IT personnel doing as they please on the servers, and, well, it's going poorly.
I kinda figured there wouldn't be a handy way to just knock this out, and that confirms it. Ah well... I can try to wrangle with this problem in whatever way I have to, even if I'd rather it didn't come to scuffling like this.
Thank you for the information, though! That at least lets me refocus my effort to other, possibly more productive avenues 🙂
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