Symptoms
Assume that you use ALTER LOGIN to change the name of the built-in [sa] account to increase security on the instance of SQL Server 2016 or 2017. In this situation, you may find that Managed Backup and Automated Backup no longer function correctly. For example, [msdb].[managed_backup].[sp_backup_config_basic] stored procedure will run without any errors, but there will not be any changes made to the Managed Backup configuration. Additionally, databases will not be backed up even if the Managed Backup configuration appears to be correct.
More information
If you trace activity when running stored procedures from the [msdb].[managed_backup] schema, you may notice a call to the [msdb].[dbo].[sp_sqlagent_set_job_completion_state] stored procedure with a @last_outcome_message parameter value of
The job failed. The owner (sa) of job smart_admin_job_[GUID] does not have server access.
Status
Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the "Applies to" section.
Resolution
This issue is fixed in the following cumulative updates for SQL Server:
About cumulative updates for SQL Server:
Each new cumulative update for SQL Server contains all the hotfixes and all the security fixes that were included with the previous cumulative update. Check out the latest cumulative updates for SQL Server:
Workaround
To work around this issue, you may:
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Temporarily rename the sa account to 'sa'.
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Upgrade to SQL Server 2019 in which the issue has been fixed already.
References
Learn about the terminology that Microsoft uses to describe software updates.
