SQLServerAgent could not be started (reason: Unable to connect to server 'ServerName\Instancename'; SQLServerAgent cannot start).
Hello,
At one of the environments i faced a very strange issue, i was working on SQL Server cluster that was working fine, but for some reason i have to perform a failover, all the resources and services were restarted successfully except for the SQL Server Agent service... looking at the system logs of the vent viewer i found the following error, Event ID 103 "
SQLServerAgent could not be started (reason: Unable to connect to server 'ServerName\Instancename'; SQLServerAgent cannot start)."
Log Name: Application
Source: SQLAgent$InstaceName
Date: 3/20/2013 3:29:58 PM
Event ID: 103
Task Category: Service Control
Level: Error
Keywords: Classic
User: N/A
Computer: ServerName
Description:
SQLServerAgent could not be started (reason: Unable to connect to server 'ServerName\InstanceName'; SQLServerAgent cannot start).
Event Xml:
http://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event
">At one of the environments i faced a very strange issue, i was working on SQL Server cluster that was working fine, but for some reason i have to perform a failover, all the resources and services were restarted successfully except for the SQL Server Agent service... looking at the system logs of the vent viewer i found the following error, Event ID 103 "
SQLServerAgent could not be started (reason: Unable to connect to server 'ServerName\Instancename'; SQLServerAgent cannot start)."
Log Name: Application
Source: SQLAgent$InstaceName
Date: 3/20/2013 3:29:58 PM
Event ID: 103
Task Category: Service Control
Level: Error
Keywords: Classic
User: N/A
Computer: ServerName
Description:
SQLServerAgent could not be started (reason: Unable to connect to server 'ServerName\InstanceName'; SQLServerAgent cannot start).
Event Xml:
Unable to connect to server 'ServerName\InstanceName'; SQLServerAgent cannot start
A quick search on the Internet yielded some forum posts that talk about permission on the SQL drives, and this was not my case.
After some troubleshooting i looked at the account used by the SQL Server Agent Service, the account was OK, but looking at SQL server logs i fount the root cause !
Login failed for user 'Domain\ServiceAccount'. Reason: The account is disabled. [CLIENT: IP Address]
looking at the SQL logins I found out that the login for this account has been disabled by the DBA !!! :(
enabling the account solved the problem and the service can start successfully
Regards
Amr
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