Security

Ivan Stankovic

SQL Server Policy Based Management – Categories and Database Subscriptions

May 21, 2014 by
In the recent articles (see below) about SQL Server Policy Based Management, we have explained the terms used by the feature, how it can be used in different environments and for various scenarios. We have also described how its basic purpose, evaluating declared rules against specific SQL Server instances and their objects, can be extended on other aspects of SQL Server such as SQL Server Audit is. Read more »
Ivan Stankovic

SQL Server Policy Based Management – applying policies to non-compliant targets

May 8, 2014 by
SQL Server Policy Based Management provides means to declare certain states and properties for SQL Server instances and their objects in a form of policies. These policies can be evaluated against a set of SQL Server instances, or against a specific SQL Server instance and a set of its objects that can be narrowed even more using additional policy conditions. However, even an evaluation of declared policies against their targets (SQL Server instances and their objects) produces viable results, in a form of evaluation reports that shows which target does and which one does not comply with the policy, this is not enough. After non-compliant targets are identified, they need to be altered in order to comply with the evaluated policies. Read more »
Ivan Stankovic

SQL Server Policy Based Management – best practices

May 5, 2014 by
In SQL Server Policy Based Management, best practices represent guidelines in a form of Policy Based Management policies that are in common SQL Server use scenarios considered as the best way to configure SQL Server instances and their objects. For example, it is considered a best practice for most SQL Server environments to use and enforce Windows Authentication mode. Violations of these policies can indicate SQL Server configurations that can result in low reliability, poor performance, increased security risks, unexpected conflicts, or other potential problems. Read more »
Ivan Stankovic

SQL Server Policy Based Management – The On Change evaluation mode

April 25, 2014 by
The Policy Based Management feature we described in the series of articles (see below) provides an efficient method to declare and enforce policies related to SQL Server instances and their objects. The main purpose of the feature is to facilitate maintenance of a single and, what’s more important, multiple SQL Server instances across the enterprise. Policies can be created on one SQL Server instance, and applied to other SQL Server instances afterwards, as explained in details in the SQL Server Policy Based Management – evaluating policies on multiple SQL Server instances article. Read more »
Ivan Stankovic

SQL Server security and Policy Based Management – Alerting

March 24, 2014 by
In the previous article related to the SQL Server Policy Based Management feature, we discussed and provided steps and tips to create conditions and policies that help maintaining SQL Server security in large enterprises with a number of SQL Server instances. Now, we are going to go further as once set policies are not much of a use if their violations are left unnoticed. Read more »
Ivan Stankovic

SQL Server security and Policy Based Management – In practice

March 16, 2014 by
In the previous introduction article we have described concepts, terms, and common Policy Based Management tasks. The SQL Server Policy Based Management feature can be used in various scenarios and for different purposes. Using once declared policies and the Export/Import feature, maintaining SQL Server security in large enterprises with a number of SQL Server instances can be an automated process Read more »