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Guardium - Discrepancies in DB User name in the Service account report

Question & Answer


Question

Why are we seeing a discrepancy with how the "DB User Name" field is displayed in the Service Account Report?

The report is showing the "DB User Name" field displayed in some entries as <Domain\DB User> and other entries as <Domain\DB User (OS USER)>.
What is causing Guardium to report this differently?
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Answer

The client application authentication method determines how these fields are populated in the report.
Example:
When a user logs into an application and connects to the SQL server, that user is deciding which authentication method that's used. Guardium has no control over that.
If the connections were authenticated as Windows Authentication in the SQL server, it's because the client making the connection choose that method of authentication.

For confirmation, ask your SQL Server administrator to validate if the connections are using Windows Authentication.
As the SQL Server administrator, the following test can be performed to display the different entries:
TEST 1:
Ask the SQL Server administrator to make a connection from SQL Server Management Studio using Windows Authentication (it's an option from within the SQL Server Management Studio connection panel when making a connection)
The Guardium report will show the user connected with the (OS USER).
TEST 2:
Repeat TEST 1, but this time, choose "SQL Server Authentication" from the drop-down menu in SQL Server Management Studio, as the authentication method
This time the Guardium report will not have the (OS USER) listed for the db user connection.

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Document Information

Modified date:
24 November 2021

UID

ibm16519044