Sitecore 9 installation using SQL active directory user

Question

Can someone suggest if Sitecore 9 installation is possible using SQL active directory user and windows authentication.

Answer 1

The short answer is "yes" but your life will be a little more difficult.

Here is the longer answer:

The installation guide notes

To enable SQL server to allow for the creation of users when using the Sitecore Install Framework, ensure that the target SQL Server is configured in a way that allows users and logins to be contained at the database level. To do this, set the contained database authentication server configuration option to 1 (on)

So if you are using SIF scripts out of the box, you need the contained user setting so that the SIF scripts can do their thing. However, there are some workarounds...

On-premise installation workarounds

The contained database authentication is only used at installation and has no impact on the application after installation. Whether you use SQL users or contained users, the application will work on-premise.

Some possible workarounds:

1. Use the ZIP download provided to install everything manually and do not use SIF. This does mean manually installing things like the services as well, but for simple architectures like an XP-Single there are not that many components to manually install.
2. Use SIF to install, but point the databases at a SQL Server on another VM. Then move the databases over manually but ignore the contained users and add your own users. Then, update connection strings.
3. Modify SIF scripts to install WDPs without the database steps and restore DACPACs from ZIP or from another SQL server.

What about Azure?

Having a contained database is a requirement for Azure SQL. You cannot use the above workarounds for Azure SQL