Microsoft SQL Server

Learn how to automatically rotate Microsoft SQL Server user passwords.

The Infisical SQL Server secret rotation allows you to automatically rotate your database users’ passwords at a predefined interval.

Prerequisites

1. Create two SQL Server logins and database users with the required permissions. We’ll refer to them as user-a and user-b.
2. Create another SQL Server login with permissions to alter logins for user-a and user-b. We’ll refer to this as the admin login.

Here’s how to set up the prerequisites:

-- Create the logins (at server level)
CREATE LOGIN [user-a] WITH PASSWORD = 'ComplexPassword1';
CREATE LOGIN [user-b] WITH PASSWORD = 'ComplexPassword2';

-- Create database users for the logins (in your specific database)
USE [YourDatabase];
CREATE USER [user-a] FOR LOGIN [user-a];
CREATE USER [user-b] FOR LOGIN [user-b];

-- Grant necessary permissions to the users
GRANT SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE ON SCHEMA::dbo TO [user-a];
GRANT SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE ON SCHEMA::dbo TO [user-b];

-- Create admin login with permission to alter other logins
CREATE LOGIN [admin] WITH PASSWORD = 'AdminComplexPassword';
CREATE USER [admin] FOR LOGIN [admin];

-- Grant permission to alter any login
GRANT ALTER ANY LOGIN TO [admin];

To learn more about SQL Server’s permission system, please visit this documentation.

How it works

1. Infisical connects to your database using the provided admin login credentials.
2. A random value is generated and the password for user-a is updated with the new value.
3. The new password is then tested by logging into the database.
4. If test is successful, it’s saved to the output secret mappings so that rest of the system gets the newly rotated value(s).
5. The process is then repeated for user-b on the next rotation.
6. The cycle repeats until secret rotation is deleted/stopped.

Rotation Configuration

1

Open Secret Rotation Page

Head over to Secret Rotation configuration page of your project by clicking on Secret Rotation in the left side bar

2

Click on Microsoft SQL Server card

3

Provide the inputs

Admin Username

string

required

SQL Server admin username

Admin password

string

required

SQL Server admin password

Host

string

required

SQL Server host url (e.g., your-server.database.windows.net)

Port

number

required

Database port number (default: 1433)

Database

string

required

Database name (default: master)

Username1

string

required

The first login name to rotate - user-a

Username2

string

required

The second login name to rotate - user-b

CA

string

Optional database certificate to connect with database

4

Configure the output secret mapping

When a secret rotation is successful, the updated values needs to be saved to an existing key(s) in your project.

Environment

string

required

The environment where the rotated credentials should be mapped to.

Secret Path

string

required

The secret path where the rotated credentials should be mapped to.

Interval

number

required

What interval should the credentials be rotated in days.

DB USERNAME

string

required

Select an existing secret key where the rotated database username value should be saved to.

DB PASSWORD

string

required

Select an existing select key where the rotated database password value should be saved to.

FAQ

Why can't we delete the other user when rotating?

When a system has multiple nodes by horizontal scaling, redeployment doesn’t happen instantly.

This means that when the secrets are rotated, and the redeployment is triggered, the existing system will still be using the old credentials until the change rolls out.

To avoid causing failure for them, the old credentials are not removed. Instead, in the next rotation, the previous user’s credentials are updated.

Why do you need an admin account?

The admin account is used by Infisical to update the credentials for user-a and user-b.

You don’t need to grant all permissions for your admin account but rather just the permission to alter logins (ALTER ANY LOGIN).

How does this work with Azure SQL Database?

When using Azure SQL Database, you’ll need to:

1. Use the full server name as your host (e.g., your-server.database.windows.net)
2. Ensure your admin account is either the Azure SQL Server admin or an Azure AD account with appropriate permissions
3. Configure your Azure SQL Server firewall rules to allow connections from Infisical’s IP addresses