Version

Argent XT, Argent AT, Argent Job Scheduler – ALL versions

Date

13 Sep 2010

Summary

Argent products run on the Windows platform as Services – typically associated with an Active Directory User Account that is configured as a member of the Domain Administrators Group. In cases where customers implement multiple Argent products, there will be a temptation to use the same service account for all products, however this introduces a single point of failure for all products if the account becomes locked out.

Technical Background

As a best practice, Argent recommends using a separate service account for Argent Job Scheduler, even if a single service account is used for all Argent XT and AT products.

In Argent Job Scheduler, the default behavior is for all Jobs to run under the security context of the service account – this means that if the account is somehow locked out, Jobs will not be able to run.

The approach here is to leave the Argent Job Scheduler Services as-is and modify instead the Argent XT / Argent AT Services.

Resolution

The process for setting up an alternate user account for use by an existing installation of Argent XT or Argent AT is straightforward:

1. Create a New Service User account in Active Directory and add as a member of Domain Administrators
2. Ensure the New Service User account has access to backend Argent XT / Argent AT database. You can do this by logging in as the New Service User and

   connecting via SQL Server Management Studio (or other SQL client) to the relevant backend database.

3. Configure the New Service User account with the same MAPI profile names as the Old Service User account.
4. Edit the Service Properties for all relevant Argent Services to run under the New Service User account on ALL ARGENT SERVERS, including Motor Servers, Backup Engine Servers, Daughter Engine Servers, Remote Monitoring Engine / Trusted Agent Servers, and Backup Alert Console Engine Servers.
5. Start each Argent Service individually.

Service Log On Properties, Argent Data Consolidator Database Engine