I am migrating SQL Server 2017 to another hardware. I have backed up the system dbs, user dbs and restored it on the destination.
Now I am reading about the concept of a service master key, which is created automatically when SQL starts for the first time. This key encrypts the linked server password, credentials, and database master key.
I question whether I need to backup/restore the service master key for my linked server, credentials, and encrypted dbs (for example, SSISDB) to work. Or does restoring the system dbs automatically handle this?
