You can configure credentials to perform data protection jobs on individual SQL Server resource for each user. While you can configure the credentials globally, you might want to do this only for a particular resource.

About this task

If you are using Windows credentials for authentication, you must set up your credential before installing plug-ins.

However, if you are using an SQL Server instance for authentication, you must add the credential after installing plug-ins.
If you have enabled SQL authentication while setting up the credentials, the discovered instance or database is shown with a red color padlock icon.

If the padlock icon appears, you must specify the instance or database credentials to successfully add the instance or database to a resource group.
You must assign the credential to a role-based access control (RBAC) user without sysadmin access when the following conditions are met:
- The credential is assigned to an SQL instance.
- The SQL instance or host is assigned to an RBAC user.
  
  The user must have both the resource group and backup privileges.

Step 1: Add and configure credentials

In the left navigation pane, select Settings.

In the Settings page, select Credential.

To add a new credential, select New.

In the Credential page, configure the credentials:

For this field…	Do this…
Credential name	Enter a name for the credentials.
Username	Enter the user name used for SQL Server authentication. Domain administrator or any member of the administrator group Specify the domain administrator or any member of the administrator group on the system on which you are installing the SnapCenter plug-in. Valid formats for the Username field are: NetBIOS\UserName Domain FQDN\UserName Local administrator (for workgroups only) For systems that belong to a workgroup, specify the built-in local administrator on the system on which you are installing the SnapCenter plug-in. You can specify a local user account that belongs to the local administrators group if the user account has elevated privileges or the User Access control feature is disabled on the host system. The valid format for the Username field is: UserName
Password	Enter the password used for authentication.
Authentication mode	Select the SQL Server authentication mode. You can also choose Windows authentication if the Windows user has sysadmin privileges on the SQL server.
Host	Select the host.
SQL Server Instance	Select the SQL Server instance.

For this field…

Do this…

Credential name

Enter a name for the credentials.

Username

Enter the user name used for SQL Server authentication.

Domain administrator or any member of the administrator group Specify the domain administrator or any member of the administrator group on the system on which you are installing the SnapCenter plug-in. Valid formats for the Username field are:
- NetBIOS\UserName
- Domain FQDN\UserName
Local administrator (for workgroups only) For systems that belong to a workgroup, specify the built-in local administrator on the system on which you are installing the SnapCenter plug-in. You can specify a local user account that belongs to the local administrators group if the user account has elevated privileges or the User Access control feature is disabled on the host system. The valid format for the Username field is: UserName

Password

Enter the password used for authentication.

Authentication mode

Select the SQL Server authentication mode. You can also choose Windows authentication if the Windows user has sysadmin privileges on the SQL server.

Host

Select the host.

SQL Server Instance

Select the SQL Server instance.

Select OK to add the credential.

Step 2: Configure instances

In the left navigation pane, select Resources.
In the Resources page, select Instance from the View list.
1. Select , and then select the host name to filter the instances.
2. Select to close the filter pane.
In the Instance Protect page, protect the instance, and if required, select Configure Credentials.

If the user who is logged in to the SnapCenter Server does not have access to SnapCenter Plugin for Microsoft SQL Server, then the user has to configure the credentials.

The credential option does not apply to databases and availability groups.
Select Refresh Resources.