Execute SSIS package from stored procedure as proxy user without xp_cmdshell

Question

I am trying to run an SSIS package through a stored procedure, but I am getting an Access is denied error when I try to import a CSV.

I put the package inside a job and ran it and it worked as long as I used a proxy account. I am trying to replicate that proxy account to the stored procedure call without using xp_cmdshell. I also ran this package inside Visual Studio and it ran smoothly.

My SSIS package is simple: It imports a CSV file from the network, converts the data to varchar, and stores the data into a table.

Even my sysadmin was not able to successfully run the stored procedure.

My stored procedure looks like this:

ALTER PROCEDURE [dbo].[spImportFile] 
AS
BEGIN
    -- SET NOCOUNT ON added to prevent extra result sets from
    -- interfering with SELECT statements.
    SET NOCOUNT ON;

    DECLARE @execution_id bigint
    EXEC SSISDB.CATALOG.create_execution
        @folder_name = 'folder_name',
        @project_name = 'project_name',
        @package_name = 'package_name.dtsx',
        @use32bitruntime = 1,
        @execution_id = @execution_id output

    EXEC SSISDB.CATALOG.start_execution @execution_id
END

My question is, how can I programmatically use a proxy user inside this stored procedure without using xp_cmdshell?

---

UPDATE:

I am now trying to impersonate my proxy user thanks to billinkc, but now I am running into this error when I execute the SSIS package:

The current security context cannot be reverted. Please switch to the original database where 'Execute As' was called and try it again.

Here is my altered code:

ALTER PROCEDURE [dbo].[spImportFile] 
AS
BEGIN
    -- SET NOCOUNT ON added to prevent extra result sets from
    -- interfering with SELECT statements.
    SET NOCOUNT ON;

    EXECUTE AS LOGIN = 'domain\credentials'

    DECLARE @execution_id bigint
    EXEC SSISDB.CATALOG.create_execution
        @folder_name = 'folder_name',
        @project_name = 'project_name',
        @package_name = 'package_name.dtsx',
        @use32bitruntime = 1,
        @execution_id = @execution_id output

    EXEC SSISDB.CATALOG.start_execution @execution_id -- <<<< ERROR HERE!

    REVERT

END

I successfully tested EXECUTE AS LOGIN and REVERT without start_execution by looking into a system table I wouldn't usually have access to.

Answer 1

I have come into a realization that since I am going to impersonate a user and that I am encouraged to use a job, it will be much easier to make a job to run this SSIS package on the server with a proxy account.

Here is my solution that includes running a job:

ALTER PROCEDURE [dbo].[spImportFile] 
    @intStatus int output
AS
BEGIN
    -- SET NOCOUNT ON added to prevent extra result sets from
    -- interfering with SELECT statements.
    SET NOCOUNT ON;

    SELECT user_name() -- test before execute

    EXECUTE AS LOGIN = 'domain\credentials'

    SELECT user_name() -- test after execute

    -- Start job
    DECLARE @job_name VARCHAR(100) = 'JobName'
    EXEC msdb.dbo.sp_start_job @job_name = @job_name

    -- Wait for job to finish
    DECLARE @job_history_id AS INT = NULL
    DECLARE @intLimit AS INT = 10
    DECLARE @intAttempt AS INT = 1

    WHILE @intAttempt < @intLimit
    BEGIN
        SELECT TOP 1 @job_history_id = activity.job_history_id
        FROM msdb.dbo.sysjobs jobs
        INNER JOIN msdb.dbo.sysjobactivity activity ON activity.job_id = jobs.job_id
        WHERE jobs.name = @job_name
        ORDER BY activity.start_execution_date DESC

        IF @job_history_id IS NULL
        BEGIN
            WAITFOR DELAY '00:00:01'
            CONTINUE
        END
        ELSE
        BEGIN
            BREAK
        END

        SET @intAttempt = @intAttempt + 1
    END

    -- Check exit code
    SELECT @intStatus = history.run_status
    FROM msdb.dbo.sysjobhistory history
    WHERE history.instance_id = @job_history_id

    REVERT

    SELECT user_name() -- test after revert

END

This job code was based on this question, "Executing SQL Server Agent Job from a stored procedure and returning job result"

---

Findings:
I have learned that you need to GRANT IMPERSONATE ON LOGIN::[domain\ProxyUser] to [domain\credentials] from this MSDN source.

ALTER DATABASE database_name SET TRUSTWORTHY ON is another setting the sysadmin needed to implement and this MSDN source helps explain the usage.

Remarks:
This solution is based on the fact that I am the dbo of the database and I had a sysadmin grant impersonation of the proxy account to my windows security group. I am using Windows authentication as well.

I have updated the question to not restrict the use of jobs for anyone that initially was working on this question. If there is a solution that doesn't require jobs, I will be more than happy to take a look and even change the accepted solution on this question.