What’s Up With AzureAttestService?

When SQL Server 2019 came out, there was a new service installed along with SQL Server called, “AzureAttestService”, however there was no documentation and the service continues to be installed with SQL Server 2022. To this day there still isn’t any. To be fair, the question only comes up a handful of times and each time I say I’m going to write a quick note about it and then forget.

The service works with the Azure Attestation in, you guessed it, Azure. This really only affects SQL Server if you’re going to use secure enclaves, which is part of the Always Encrypted suite of features. Thus, if you’re not running SQL Server to consume Azure services and/or aren’t used secure enclaves with Always Encrypted using Microsoft Azure Attestation then you’re pretty safe to disable the service.

Let’s take a moment of silence to remember MSDN, TechNet, Books Online, and Docs. Learn, your time is limited.