Best Practices for MS SQL Server Authentication Setup

This document serves as a guide for configuring MS SQL Server authentication for authenticated scanning. It outlines the requirements for using authentication, emphasizing its necessity for compliance scans. The document specifies that both Windows and SQL Server authentication methods are supported for various versions of MS SQL Server, including 2005 through 2019 for Windows and 2017 and 2019 for Unix. It details the steps necessary to set up a SQL Server authentication account, including creating a login, user account, and granting appropriate privileges. The guide provides scripts to facilitate these processes, ensuring that the QUALYS_SCAN account is properly configured with the necessary permissions for successful compliance scans. Additionally, it mentions the importance of verifying that the scan account has the required privileges and provides queries to check access. The document also briefly addresses configurations for Amazon RDS and Google Cloud environments, ensuring comprehensive coverage of authentication setup across platforms.