SQL Server Service Accounts

Working on SharePoint 2010 installations requires many different supporting technologies, such as the .NET framework and SQL Server. And each of these technologies has its own setup requirements. Take SQL Server for example, in SQL Server each service represents a process or a set of processes to manage authentication of SQL Server operations with Windows. There is a default configuration of services in SQL Server 2008 , and configuration options for SQL Server services that you can set during SQL Server installation. If you do not configure SQL Server properly, you have no chance of getting SharePoint Server installed or working properly. So, here’s a great link to help configure SQL Server service accounts. I’ve also provided the information here, just in case, by some slim chance, the link moved and I am unable to locate the information.

Setting Up Windows Service Accounts
Each service in SQL Server represents a process or a set of processes to manage authentication of SQL Server operations with Windows. This topic describes the default configuration of services in this release of SQL Server, and configuration options for SQL Server services that you can set during SQL Server installation.

Depending on the components that you decide to install, SQL Server Setup installs the following services:

SQL Server Database Services – The service for the SQL Server relational Database Engine.
SQL Server Agent – Executes jobs, monitors SQL Server, fires alerts, and enables automation of some administrative tasks.
Note
For SQL Server and SQL Server Agent to run as services in Windows, SQL Server and SQL Server Agent must be assigned a Windows user account. For more information about how to customize account information for each service, see How to: Install SQL Server 2008 R2 (Setup).
Analysis Services – Provides online analytical processing (OLAP) and data mining functionality for business intelligence applications.
Reporting Services – Manages, executes, creates, schedules, and delivers reports.
Integration Services – Provides management support for Integration Services package storage and execution.
SQL Server Browser – The name resolution service that provides SQL Server connection information for client computers.
Full-text search – Quickly creates full-text indexes on content and properties of structured and semistructured data to provide document filtering and word-breaking for SQL Server.
SQL Server Active Directory Helper – Publishes and manages SQL Server services in Active Directory.
SQL Writer – Allows backup and restore applications to operate in the Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) framework.
Important
Always use SQL Server tools such as SQL Server Configuration Manager to change the account used by the SQL Server or SQL Server Agent services, or to change the password for the account. In addition to changing the account name, SQL Server Configuration Manager performs additional configuration such as setting permissions in the Windows Registry so that the new account can read the SQL Server settings. Other tools such as the Windows Services Control Manager can change the account name but do not change associated settings. If the service cannot access the SQL Server portion of the registry, the service may not start properly.
Important
For Analysis Services instances that you deploy in a SharePoint farm, always use SharePoint Central Administration to change the server accounts for PowerPivot service applications and the Analysis Services service. Associated settings and permissions are updated to use the new account information when you use Central Administration.
The remainder of this topic is divided into the following sections: