Around ten minutes to seven yesterday AM, I
received an email from a customer stating that my Access database wasn't
working. This is a reporting tool I developed that connects to their web-based
custom program which uses SQL Server 2000.
One user in particular needed a report for an early-morning session. I knew
that user had been having issues with their PC, so I asked for a reboot to see
if that would take care of it - it did not. I also asked for a reboot of the
server - no change. Then I learned that the web-based app would not allow
anybody to log in. Hmm.
Twenty minutes later, I arrived to find that the SQL Server service was
stopped. That would certainly explain the what, but not the how or why. . .
SQL Server is usually set up with a dedicated domain user account to actually
start the service. The password for that account resides in two places - the
first place, the domain user account profile, had been changed. The second
place -
Start ~ Settings ~ Control Panel ~ Administrative Tools ~ Services
. . . right-click on MSSQLSERVER, click Properties ~ Log On - still had the old
password, and that is why the server did not start. Once the new password was
entered there, we started SQL Server and everything was back to normal.
EDIT on Sept 7th
In retrospect, the above comment - "the reason
that the server would not start" - raised a new question, which is: A SQL
Server is usually online 24/7, and the startup account is only utilized when
the server is rebooted. But no human rebooted the server.Hmmm. Turns out the
Windows Update found a 'critical update that required an automatic reboot of
the server' and when that happened, the altered startup credentials (changed before the reboot) no longer
worked.