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Run a service as a group Managed Service Account

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On a Windows Server standalone cluster, you can run a service as a group managed service account (gMSA) using a RunAs policy. By default, Service Fabric applications run under the account that the Fabric.exe process runs under. Running applications under different accounts, even in a shared hosted environment, makes them more secure from one another. By using a gMSA, there is no password or encrypted password stored in the application manifest. You can also run a service as an Active Directory user or group.

The following example shows how to create a gMSA account called svc-Test$, how to deploy that managed service account to the cluster nodes, and how to configure the user principal.

Note

Using a gMSA with a standalone Service Fabric cluster requires Active Directory on-premises within your domain (rather than Microsoft Entra ID).

Pre-requisites:

  • The domain needs a KDS root key.
  • There must be at least one Windows Server 2012 (or R2) DC in the domain.

  1. Have an Active Directory domain administrator create a group-managed service account using the New-ADServiceAccount cmdlet and ensure that the PrincipalsAllowedToRetrieveManagedPassword includes all of the Service Fabric cluster nodes. AccountName, DnsHostName, and ServicePrincipalName must be unique.

    New-ADServiceAccount -name svc-Test$ -DnsHostName svc-test.contoso.com  -ServicePrincipalNames http/svc-test.contoso.com -PrincipalsAllowedToRetrieveManagedPassword SfNode0$,SfNode1$,SfNode2$,SfNode3$,SfNode4$

  2. On each of the Service Fabric cluster nodes (for example, SfNode0$,SfNode1$,SfNode2$,SfNode3$,SfNode4$), install and test the gMSA.

    Add-WindowsFeature RSAT-AD-PowerShell
Install-AdServiceAccount svc-Test$
Test-AdServiceAccount svc-Test$

  3. Configure the User principal, and configure the RunAsPolicy to reference the User.

    <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<ApplicationManifest xmlns:xsd="https://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" xmlns:xsi="https://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" ApplicationTypeName="MyApplicationType" ApplicationTypeVersion="1.0.0" xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/2011/01/fabric">
    <ServiceManifestImport>
      <ServiceManifestRef ServiceManifestName="MyServiceTypePkg" ServiceManifestVersion="1.0.0" />
      <ConfigOverrides />
      <Policies>
          <RunAsPolicy CodePackageRef="Code" UserRef="DomaingMSA"/>
      </Policies>
    </ServiceManifestImport>
  <Principals>
    <Users>
      <User Name="DomaingMSA" AccountType="ManagedServiceAccount" AccountName="domain\svc-Test$"/>
    </Users>
  </Principals>
</ApplicationManifest>

Note

If you apply a RunAs policy to a service and the service manifest declares endpoint resources with the HTTP protocol, you must specify a SecurityAccessPolicy. For more information, see Assign a security access policy for HTTP and HTTPS endpoints.

The following articles will guide you through next steps: