Security Requirements for Managing Services

To manage the Microsoft SQL Server and SQL Server Agent Services, use either SQL Server Configuration Manager or SQL Server Management Studio. Manage the services on clustered servers with the Cluster Administrator.

To manage the SQL Server service and set the server configuration options, you must be a member of the serveradmin fixed server role or the sysadmin fixed server role. Members of the Windows Administrators group can start and stop services and configure the server options that Windows provides.

Note

To operate properly, the accounts used for the services must be configured with the correct domain, file system, and registry permissions. For information about the required permissions, see Configure Windows Service Accounts and Permissions.

Windows Management Instrumentation

SQL Server Configuration Manager and SQL Server Management Studio use Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) to display and modify some of the server properties. To manage services and obtain the status of the services, the user must have rights to access the WMI object. In SQL Server Management Studio, the following server property pages use WMI:

  • Autostart Services

  • Startup Parameters

  • Security

  • Misc Server Settings

Configure WMI to Show Server Status in SQL Server Tools

WMI Provider for Configuration Management Concepts