SMS: Performing a Site Reset or Modification Displays Server Connection Account Reset Message (263366)

SUMMARY

After you run Setup for Systems Management Server and select the Modify or reset the current installation option on a Systems Management Server Service Pack 2 (SP2) site, the following dialog box may appear, even when you are only adding additional components:

Warning:
Do you want to reset the server connection account on this computer? The server connection account is the account the remote SMS services use to connect to the site server. If you have account lockout policy enabled, you might not want to reset the server connection account password now because doing so risks locking out the server connection account, which prevents remote SMS services from accessing the site server.

This dialog box was added in Systems Management Server SP2.

MORE INFORMATION

If you have already reset the Server Connection account for Systems Management Server, use the Access Control List (ACL) Reset tool (Aclreset.exe) to restore access permissions.

For information about the Systems Management Server Recovery Tools and how to obtain them, review the Tools section at the following Microsoft Web site: http://www.microsoft.com/smsmgmt/techdetails/recovery/

Use the ACL Reset tool every time the server connection account is changed or re-created.

About the Systems Management Server Connection Account

The Server Connection account is the account that Systems Management Servers run on remote site systems (such as logon points), to connect to the site server. It is used by the following:

The Systems Management Server Windows NT Logon Discovery Agent service, to gain access to the site server when transferring discovery data.
The Inbox Manager Assistant component of the Systems Management Server Executive service on remote Client Access Points (CAPs), to gain access to the site server when transferring data.
Systems Management Server services running on remote site systems, to gain access to the Systems Management Server registry keys and specific directories on the site server.
The Systems Management Server Provider, to gain access to the Systems Management Server directories on the site server, including the Portable Document Format (PDF) store.

Systems Management Server Setup creates the default Server Connection account SMSServer_sitecode on the site server and adds it to the Domain Users group in the site server's domain.