Configuring Services at the Operating System Level

Configuring a Microsoft Windows service consists of configuring the following properties for each service:

• Logon Account   Determines the security context in which the service performs its tasks. As a general rule, the logon account for each service should be configured with the least amount of privileges needed by the service. If access to network resources is required, the service must be configured to use a logon account with network access rights, and that logon account must be granted the requisite access permissions on the remote resource.

• Startup Type   Determines whether the service starts automatically when the operating system starts. In most cases, the services required by an instance of Analysis Services should be configured to start automatically. These services frequently include Microsoft SQL Server and SQL Server Agent.

• Recovery   Determines the action the local computer takes if one of the services fails. By default, the local computer takes no action. However, the services can be configured such that the computer restarts the services after a specified number of minutes following a failure.

• Dependencies   Determines the order in which services are started in order to account for any dependencies. By default, there are no dependencies for Analysis Services.

For more information about the tools used to configure a service, see Reviewing Service Management Tools.