Prerequisites

• Applies only to Active Directory and Local Accounts 
• You have accounts that you use for Windows Services and/or Scheduled tasks that you wish to schedule a password rotation.
• Install the Quickpass agent on the systems that have accounts you wish to rotate passwords for. https://support.getquickpass.com/hc/en-us/articles/360035206994-How-to-install-the-Server-Agent-Manual-and-Silent

Set Auto Rotation Default Settings

1. Click the Service Rotations button in the lower left hand corner while in the Service Accounts screen. 

Rotate Settings for Administrator Accounts is separate from the Rotate Settings for Service Accounts. You can now adjust the settings for BOTH types of accounts from either the Administrator Accounts or Service Accounts screen.

2.  Select the customer's Time Zone, Time, default number of Days between rotations and Password Type (random complex passwords up to 99 characters or random passphrases) for the scheduled password rotation. Then click Save.

Password Type

- Random complex password: This is the default option for password rotation and allows you to choose a password length between 8 and 99 characters. If the Active Directory password policy is greater than 8 characters then the slider/character count will start at the minimum password length and you will only be allowed to select a length as low as the password policy minimum.  Type the number of characters you want to use, or use the slider to select the Random Complex Character Password length.

- Random Passphrases: This is a more secure option which creates passwords that are roughly 30 characters in length using actual words that are easy to read and type. This option will satisfy complexity requirements from both Active Directory and Azure Active Directory / Office 365.

To Enable this option select either Four Long Words or Five Short Words from the appropriate radio button. 

Four long word passphrase example

Five short word passphrase example

Caution: Some versions of Windows Server Essentials include a built in utility to sync Active Directory passwords with Office 365 / Azure. This utility enforces a maximum password length of 16 characters and therefore passphrases will not work in these cases. Similarly, if you are using an older version of AD Connect from prior to May 2019 when they increased the password length in Azure Active Directory to 256 characters you will experience the same issue. Be sure to test that the Active Directory server supports passwords greater than 16 characters prior to enabling this option. 

Import Service Accounts

1. As a Quickpass Administrator, log in to Quickpass and select the Customer you wish to setup scheduled password rotation > Service Accounts

2. Select Service Accounts menu on the left hand side

3. Click the +Add Accounts button in the top right hand corner to import Service Accounts.

4. If you have both Active Directory and Local Account agents installed for this customer you will be prompted to select the directory source of the accounts you wish to import. Select either Active Directory or Local Accounts as required. 

 

5a. Active Directory: Select the Active Directory Organizational Unit (OU) that contains the Service Accounts you wish to import.

5b. Local Accounts: Select the system that has the local account you wish to rotate the password for. 

6a. Active Directory: Select the accounts you wish to import.

6b. Local Accounts: Select the accounts you wish to import.

7. The newly imported administrator accounts will now appear in the Service Accounts menu. 

Note: By default the Restart toggle switch is set to On. This is the recommended setting since after a password is updated on a Windows service if you don't restart it eventually the service will stop when its Active Directory Kerberos token expires. Generally this happens every 10 hours. 

 

Enable Auto Rotation

1. In the Service Accounts screen click the Auto Rotate toggle switch beside the Service Account you wish to setup scheduled password rotation for. 

The Frequency column will fill in with the default number of days from the Auto Rotate Settings and the date of the next scheduled password rotation will show in the Next Column. The Last column at this time will be blank until the first scheduled password rotation takes place. 

The exact time for the scheduled password rotation will be taken from the Auto Rotate settings previously setup.

Alternatively you also have the option to Enable Auto Rotate for all accounts at once. To do this select either use the select all check box or individually select all the Admin user accounts you wish to enable auto rotation for. 

 

Once Complete all the admin accounts you selected to be enabled for auto password rotation have been activated. 

 

Note

• After a password is rotated by Quickpass the password entry will be saved in the Passwords Menu or you can click the account to drill down to the saved password. 
• The QP Status will change to Success after the rotation is successfully completed. Conversely, if the password rotation failed the QP Status will show failed. 
• Logs for the password rotations are included in the Events menu to see confirmations and/or to troubleshoot issues.
• After a password is rotated, Quickpass will search each Windows server with a Quickpass agent for a Windows Service or Scheduled Task that is using the Service account just rotated. Quickpass will then update the Windows Service and/or Scheduled Task password and restart the Windows Service within 60 seconds after the rotation as long as the Restart toggle switch is set to On. 
• The delay for restarting the Windows Service is in place to ensure that the password has had time to replicate to all Active Directory domain controllers. 
• Caution: Password rotation of service accounts will fail if any of the windows server agents are offline. This is to ensure Quickpass does not rotate a password for a Windows Service or Scheduled task account that is being used on the offline server. 

• The Quickpass Events event viewer on the Windows Server where service accounts are rotated will log the following events.

Received UpdateServiceAccounts command

Windows Service - <Name of Service> - password update: Success

Scheduled Task - <Name of Scheduled Task> - password update: Success

UpdateServiceAccounts processed successfully

Windows Service - <Name of Service> - restart: Success (Within 60 seconds after password rotation)

 

Access the Password after its Rotated

1. Click the Passwords Menu on the left hand side 

2. Select the account you wish to access the Password for. 

 

3. View the current and previous previsions as needed. Click the eye icon to decrypt the password. 

Option 2 - Click on the Account

1. Navigate to the account you wish to access the password for in the Service Accounts menu.

 

2. Hover the mouse over the account you wish to access the password for so that the row is highlighted then click to access the password screen for that account.

3. View the current and previous previsions as needed. Click the eye icon to decrypt the password. 

 

 

Next Steps

• Quickpass Tech Vault - Securing Passwords: https://support.getquickpass.com/hc/en-us/articles/5414744454295-Quickpass-Password-Vault-Security
• Scheduled Rotation Retry - https://support.getquickpass.com/hc/en-us/articles/9907473165975-Password-Rotation-Retry