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Excessive number of AD logins when using Windows authentication

If you configure SQList to use Windows authentication to connect to the destination SQL database(s), you will notice a large number of Window Authentication events in the event log. Depending on the amount of data you are replicating from SharePoint, these can amount to several thousands per hour.

You can monitor this behaviour by filtering the "Security" log in Windows Event Viewer on Event ID no. 4648:

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When Windows Authentication is used to connect to the SQL database, SQList has to "impersonate" the user specified in the credentials for every call it makes to the SQL database. Every impersonation has to be validated by the domain controller and the Event ID 4648 mentioned above is generated.

Since the SharePoint to SQL Database replication is a complex process that requires many calls to the database and, therefore, many impersonations.

This behaviour is by design and cannot be altered.

There is however a workaround, but it requires that you use the same user account to connect to all your SQL destination databases and SharePoint websites you replicate.

If that applies to you, follow these steps:

Note: a basic knowledge of Windows system administration is required for this process.

  1. Stop the SQList service.
  2. As a precaution, take a backup of your destination SQL database and make a copy of the folder C:\ProgramData\AxioWorks\SQList;
  3. Ensure that the user account has access to the SharePoint sites (at least read-only) and destination databases (dbo) that you are replicating;
  4. Grant "Full control" to the user account on the folder C:\ProgramData\AxioWorks\SQList;
  5. In SQList Manager, change all your database connection to use "Trusted authentication" (1);
  6. In SQList Manager, change all your SharePoint connection to use "Windows authentication" and enter the user account's credentials;
  7. In Windows Services, open the properties of the "AxioWorks SQList Service" service and under "Log On" selected the option "This account" and fill in the user account's credentials (if prompted, confirm that the user account can run as a Service account);
  8. Start the SQList service.
At this point you should notice that the number of authentications is drastically reduced.

(1) please read this article for more details about "Trusted authentication": http://support.axioworks.com/troubleshooting/using-trusted-authentication-to-connect-to-sharepoint-and-sql-server

Should you have any questions about this process or require any assistance, please contact our Support Team at support@axioworks.com.