permissions to start sql server agent

  • What permissions do we need to start sql server agent.

  • I don't believe it requires the SQL Server Agent account to be a member of the local Administrators group. I do believe you can utilize a non-administrator account with specific privileges granted.

    What all those privileges are, I do not know offhand. I'd guess ones like (in User Rights Assignments) "Act as part of the operating system", "Log on as a service", possibly "Profile system performance", and possibly "Create a token object" and "Replace a process level token" (definitely unsure about the latter two).

    A good Windows Administrator should be able to determine the minimum permissions needed. I'm also sure there is a KnowledgeBase article out there that details them.

    I did find one article, but it specifically deals with XP. It is #259733 and the link is http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=http://support.microsoft.com:80/support/kb/articles/q259/7/33.asp&NoWebContent=1. It may or may not help, as I've run out of time to delve further.

    Good luck.


    David R Buckingham, MCDBA,MCSA,MCP

  • If you (as the user) are trying to stop or start SQL Server Agent, you need to be in one of the following local groups on the system:

    Administrators

    Power Users

    SQL Server Agent doesn't need to be in the Administrators local group. Minimum permissions, per BOL:

    http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/instsql/in_overview_6k1f.asp

    K. Brian Kelley

    http://www.truthsolutions.com/

    Author: Start to Finish Guide to SQL Server Performance Monitoring

    http://www.netimpress.com/shop/product.asp?ProductID=NI-SQL1

    K. Brian Kelley
    @kbriankelley

  • Thank you for finding the reference I could not. However, according to the link you provided, the account that SQL Server Agent service operates does need to be a member of the local Administrators group. It is the account that the SQL Server service operates under that can be in either the local Power Users or local Administrators group, which is unnecessary if you're not using ADSI.

    Edited by - drbuckingham on 05/19/2003 10:08:18 PM


    David R Buckingham, MCDBA,MCSA,MCP

  • Ack! Posted before I was finished. The SQL Server Agent account should be a member of the local Administrators group for the autorestart function. I've run into to too many situations where the agent service dies for one reason or another and without the autorestart it can become serious very quick if you rely on any scheduled jobs for production operation.


    David R Buckingham, MCDBA,MCSA,MCP

  • You always have the option attacking this via other methods:

    1) In Windows 2000, you can set the service to restart itself (services.msc). This is the easiest approach.

    2) You can have a monitoring process that looks for SQL Server and SQL Server Agent and makes sure they are running. If they aren't, it restarts them. For instance, HealthMon, MOM, CIM (Compaq), Argent, or even a script can handle this.

    This allows you to keep these two services running without granting SQL Server Agent admin rights on the system.

    K. Brian Kelley

    http://www.truthsolutions.com/

    Author: Start to Finish Guide to SQL Server Performance Monitoring

    http://www.netimpress.com/shop/product.asp?ProductID=NI-SQL1

    K. Brian Kelley
    @kbriankelley

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