SQL server services - can they be started automati

Question

I noticed in last few months that, for some reason, SQL server services stop unexpectedly (SQL Server 2008 R2).

Is there a way to configure SQL server services to be started automatically? I want to be sure that if this happens again and I am not available at the moment, services will be restarted.

Thanks much in advance!

Answer 1

You can configure SQL Server Agent to restart the SQL Server and/or SQL Server Agent services automatically if they stop unexpectedly.

To configure automatic service restart:

• Open the SQL Server Management Studio, right-click the SQL Server Agent entry, and select Properties.
• On the General page, select the Auto Restart SQL Server If It Stops Unexpectedly check box.
• You can also select the Auto Restart SQL Server Agent If It Stops Unexpectedly check box.
• Click OK to save the changes

You should of course check log files in order to find out why SQL Server services stopped unexpectedly (The error logs can be found in the directory C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL10.MSSQLSERVER\MSSQL\Log), are services set to run automatically, Event viewer logs, as Aaron already suggested, and similar. If current service account is domain account, you should check if password for domain account has expired…