Permissions Required to Run Database Engine Tuning Advisor
Security for Database Engine Tuning Advisor is handled by the login credentials supplied by the user. This applies to both the graphical user interface and the dta command-line utility. Database Engine Tuning Advisor can use either Microsoft Windows credentials or Microsoft SQL Server login credentials. The type of credential that Database Engine Tuning Advisor uses depends on the type of service account that is configured during installation. For more information about configuring service accounts during installation, see Setting Up Windows Service Accounts.
Note
Database Engine Tuning Advisor submits Showplan requests as part of the tuning process. When a trace table or file that contains the LoginName data column is consumed as a workload, Database Engine Tuning Advisor impersonates the user specified in LoginName. If this user does not have sufficient permissions to execute and produce Showplans for the statements contained in the trace, Database Engine Tuning Advisor will not tune those statements. To resolve this, remove the LoginName column from those events that are not tuned. For more information, see "Trace File or Trace Table Workloads that Contain the LoginName Data Column" in How to: Create Workloads.
Initializing Database Engine Tuning Advisor
After you install SQL Server, a user who is a member of the sysadmin fixed server role must launch Database Engine Tuning Advisor before anyone else. When the sysadmin user launches Database Engine Tuning Advisor that action initializes the application for use by others. After Database Engine Tuning Advisor is initialized, any user who is a member of the db_owner fixed database role can use it to tune tables on databases they own. For more information about initializing Database Engine Tuning Advisor, see Initializing Database Engine Tuning Advisor.