Azure SQL Managed Instance must initiate session auditing upon startup.

Session auditing is used when a user's activities are under investigation. To ensure capture of all activity during those periods when session auditing is in use, it must be in operation for the whole time Azure SQL Managed Instance is running.

When Audits are enabled, they start up when the audits are enabled and remain operating until the audit is disabled.

Check if an audit is configured and enabled.

To determine if session auditing is configured and enabled, follow the instructions below:

Run this TSQL command to determine if SQL Auditing is configured and enabled:

SELECT name AS 'Audit Name', status_desc AS 'Audit Status', audit_file_path AS 'Current Audit File' FROM sys.dm_server_audit_status WHERE status_desc = 'STARTED'

All currently defined audits for the Azure SQL Managed Instance will be listed.

If no audits are returned, this is a finding.

Configure the SQL Audit(s) to automatically start during system start-up.

ALTER SERVER AUDIT [] WITH STATE = ON

Execute the following query:

SELECT name AS 'Audit Name', status_desc AS 'Audit Status', audit_file_path AS 'Current Audit File' FROM sys.dm_server_audit_status WHERE status_desc = 'STARTED'

Ensure the SQL STIG Audit is configured to initiate session auditing upon startup.