JobScheduler Universal Agent - Running jobs as a different user

Scope

• The Universal Agent is frequently running in the system account or a service account and will execute jobs within the context and permission of this account.
• Running a job as a different user includes to login as that user, optionally load the user profile and execute commands in this context.
• User switching applies to
  • All job types (standalone jobs and job chain jobs)
  • Shell Jobs
  • API jobs in any of the supported languages
  • Pre-processing and post-processing Monitors
• This article applies to the Universal Agent for Windows only. For Unix environments there is no need for scheduler based user switching as the built-in sudo and su capabilities provide this functionality.

Introduction

• For user switching the Agent has to be operated for a user account or service account, not for the system account.
• The credentials of the target user for which a job should be executed are not stored with JobScheduler configuration data. Instead the account that runs the JobScheduler Windows Service stores credentials with the Windows Credential Manager. When a job should be executed then the JobScheduler Agent reads the credentials from the Windows Credential Manager. Reading credentials that have previously been stored using the same account works without the need to specify a password. Therefore the solution is free from the use of passwords.
• A login is performed with the target user credentials and the user's environment is active when executing the job.

Setting the Agent User Account

The user account that is used by a Universal Agent can be set during the installation of the Agent. If an account is not specified here the Agent will run under the system account.

The Windows Services (German: Dienste) application shows the account an Agent is running under in the Log On As (German: Anmelden als) column.

To change the account right-click the Agent in the Windows Services application and select Properties. Then select the Log On tab and This Account and then enter the account name and password.

Credential Manager

The Windows Credential Manager is accessible via its

• Graphical User Interface  
• Command Line Interface: cmdkey
• API: the API is used by the JobScheduler Agent

Manage credentials with the Graphical User Interface

• Open the Credential Manager GUI from the JobScheduler Agent account.
  • English: Control Panel -> Credential Manager
  • German: Systemsteuerung -> Anmeldeinformationsverwaltung
• Select the Credential Type Windows Authentication -> Generic
  
  • Add a generic credential information for a target user with the following input fields: 
    • Intenet or network address
      • For use with JobScheduler this field holds the "target name" of the credentials. 
      • You are free to use any characters to specify a unique identifier for the credentials.
    • User name
      • The account for the target user can be specified by Unicode characters and digits including space, comma,  _, - and @
      • For domain users specify the user principal name (UPN) in the format username@DOMAIN
        • The format DOMAIN\username is not supported
    • Password
  • Your input screen should look like this:
    
    

Manage credentials with the Command Line Interface

• Open a Windows console window (cmd.exe) for the JobScheduler Agent account.
• Use the following commands to add credentials for a target user:

 # Add credentials for a local user 
cmdkey /generic:run_as_jobuser /user:JOBUSER /pass:PASSWORD 
 
# Add credentials for a domain user 
cmdkey /generic:run_as_jobuser /user:JOBUSER@DOMAIN /pass:PASSWORD 
 
# Show a list of all credentials 
cmdkey /list

Permissions

Permissions are required for the JobScheduler Agent account and for the target user of a job.

• To manage permissions switch to 
  • English: Control panel -> Administrative Tools -> Local Security Policy -> Local Policies -> User Rights Assignment
  • German: Systemsteuerung -> Verwaltung -> Lokale Sicherheitsrichlinie -> Lokale Richtlinien -> Zuweisen von Benutzerrechten
• Just in case that you want to dig into details find references about the constants that are used for privileges from the following links:
  • Privilege Constants
  • Account Rights Constants

Permissions for the Agent Account

Apply the following permissions for the account that the Agent is running for:

• Permission: SE_ASSIGNPRIMARYTOKEN_NAME
  
  • English: Replace a process-level token
  • German: Ersetzen eines Tokens auf Prozessebene
• Permission: SE_INCREASE_QUOTA_NAME
  
  • English: Adjust memory quotas for a process
  • German: Anpassen von Speicherkontingenten für einen Prozess

Then right-click the permission and use the Properties -> Add user or group action to add the respective Agent account as explained for the above permissions.

Load target user profile

If the profile of the target user should be loaded then the Agent account requires the Administrator role, see LoadUserProfile, and the following permissions:

• Permission: SE_BACKUP_NAME
  
  • English: Back up files and directories 
  • German: Sichern von Dateien und Verzeichnissen
• Permission: SE_RESTORE_NAME
  
  • English: Restore files and directories
  • German: Wiederherstellen von Dateien und Verzeichnissen

Hints

Right-click the permission and use the Properties -> Add user or group action to add the respective Agent account as explained for the above permissions.

Restart the JobScheduler Agent Windows Service in order to apply changes to roles and permissions.

Permissions for the Target User

Assign the following permissions for the target user of the job:

• Permission: SE_BATCH_LOGON_NAME
  
  • English: Log on as a batch job
  • German: Anmelden als Stapelverarbeitungsauftrag

Hints

Right-click the permission and use the Properties -> Add user or group action to add the respective target user as explained for the above permissions.

Job Configuration

Jobs that should be executed for a target user have to be assigned the credentials key that has previously been stored with the Credential Manager for the Agent account. A resulting job could look like this: 

<job  order="yes" stop_on_error="no" credentials_key="run_as_jobuser" process_class="/agent">
    <script  language="shell">
        <![CDATA[
@echo username %USERNAME%
@echo userprofile %USERPROFILE%
        ]]>
    </script>
    <run_time />
</job>

<job  order="yes" stop_on_error="no" credentials_key="run_as_jobuser" load_user_profile="true" process_class="/agent">
    <script  language="shell">
        <![CDATA[
@echo username %USERNAME%
@echo userprofile %USERPROFILE%
        ]]>
    </script>
    <run_time />
</job>

When using the JOE job editor the settings for the credentials key and loading of user profile are available from the "Options" tab.

Error Messages

This chapter is intended to explain common error messages and pitfalls. Find a complete reference from System Error Codes.

Errors when using credentials

Error Code: WINDOWS-1168

Windows Credential Manager does not return an entry named 'MyCredentialsKey': WINDOWS-1168 (CredRead) Element not found.

Windows Credential Manager does not return an entry named 'MyCredentialsKey': WINDOWS-1168 (CredRead) Element nicht gefunden.

COM-80020009 java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: requirement failed: Unsupported character in Windows user name: 'MYDOMAIN\JOBUSER'

Errors when setting file permissions

Error Code: COM-80020009 icacls

COM-80020009 java.lang.RuntimeException: Windows command failed: C:\Windows\System32\icacls.exe => JOBUSER: No mapping between account names and security IDs was done.

COM-80020009 java.lang.RuntimeException: Windows command failed: C:\Windows\System32\icacls.exe => JOBUSER: Zuordnungen von Kontennamen und Sicherheitskennungen wurden nicht durchgeführt.

Errors when performing a logon for a target user

Error Code: WINDOWS-1326

WINDOWS-1326 (LogonUser) Logon failure: The user name or password is incorrect.

WINDOWS-1326 (LogonUser) Anmeldung fehlgeschlagen: unbekannter Benutzername oder falsches Kennwort.

WINDOWS-1385 (LogonUser) Logon failure: the user has not been granted the requested logon type at this computer.

WINDOWS-1385 (LogonUser) Anmeldung fehlgeschlagen: Der Benutzer besitzt nicht den benötigten Anmeldetyp auf diesem Computer.

Errors when loading a user profile

Error Code: WINDOWS-1314

WINDOWS-1314 (LoadUserProfile) A required privilege is not held by the client.

WINDOWS-1314 (LoadUserProfile) Dem Client fehlt ein erforderliches Recht.

WINDOWS-5 (LoadUserProfile) Access is denied

WINDOWS-5 (LoadUserProfile) Zugriff verweigert

Errors related to logs

Error Message: Access is denied

[info] SCHEDULER-726 Task runs on remote scheduler http://localhost:<port>
[info] SCHEDULER-918 state=starting (at=2017-08-02 15:00:47.803+0200)
[info] [stderr] log4j:ERROR setFile(null,true) call failed.
[info] [stderr] java.io.FileNotFoundException: <agent_data>\logs\jobscheduler_agent_<port>.log (Access is denied)
[info] [stderr] at java.io.FileOutputStream.open0(Native Method)
[info] [stderr] at java.io.FileOutputStream.open(Unknown Source)
[info] [stderr] at java.io.FileOutputStream.<init>(Unknown Source)
[info] [stderr] at java.io.FileOutputStream.<init>(Unknown Source)
[info] [stderr] at org.apache.log4j.FileAppender.setFile(FileAppender.java:294)
[info] [stderr] at org.apache.log4j.FileAppender.activateOptions(FileAppender.java:165)
[info] [stderr] at org.apache.log4j.DailyRollingFileAppender.activateOptions(DailyRollingFileAppender.java:223)
[info] [stderr] at org.apache.log4j.config.PropertySetter.activate(PropertySetter.java:307)
[info] [stderr] at org.apache.log4j.xml.DOMConfigurator.parseAppender(DOMConfigurator.java:295)
[info] [stderr] at org.apache.log4j.xml.DOMConfigurator.findAppenderByName(DOMConfigurator.java:176)
[info] [stderr] at org.apache.log4j.xml.DOMConfigurator.findAppenderByReference(DOMConfigurator.java:191)
[info] [stderr] at org.apache.log4j.xml.DOMConfigurator.parseChildrenOfLoggerElement(DOMConfigurator.java:523)
[info] [stderr] at org.apache.log4j.xml.DOMConfigurator.parseCategory(DOMConfigurator.java:436)
[info] [stderr] at org.apache.log4j.xml.DOMConfigurator.parse(DOMConfigurator.java:1004)
[info] [stderr] at org.apache.log4j.xml.DOMConfigurator.doConfigure(DOMConfigurator.java:872)
[info] [stderr] at org.apache.log4j.xml.DOMConfigurator.doConfigure(DOMConfigurator.java:778)
[info] [stderr] at org.apache.log4j.helpers.OptionConverter.selectAndConfigure(OptionConverter.java:483)
[info] [stderr] at org.apache.log4j.LogManager.<clinit>(LogManager.java:127)
[info] [stderr] at org.slf4j.impl.Log4jLoggerFactory.getLogger(Log4jLoggerFactory.java:64)
[info] [stderr] at org.slf4j.LoggerFactory.getLogger(LoggerFactory.java:285)
[info] [stderr] at com.sos.scheduler.engine.common.scalautil.Logger$.apply(Logger.scala:104)
[info] [stderr] at com.sos.scheduler.engine.taskserver.TaskServerMain$.<init>(TaskServerMain.scala:22)
[info] [stderr] at com.sos.scheduler.engine.taskserver.TaskServerMain$.<clinit>(TaskServerMain.scala)
[info] [stderr] at com.sos.scheduler.engine.taskserver.TaskServerMain.main(TaskServerMain.scala)
[info] [stderr] log4j:ERROR Either File or DatePattern options are not set for appender [file].

Common causes for this error include that the Agent account is not assigned read/write permissions for the file jobscheduler_agent_<port>.log.

This problem might occur after switching the account of the Agent Windows Service. To remedy this situation add read/write permissions to the Agent account and target user.