In
SQL Server 2005, when SQL Server is installed, a group called SQLServer2005SQLAgentUser$MSSQLSERVER
or SQLServer2005SQLAgentUser$ServerName$InstanceName is created. You can find these groups in Local Groups. If we need
more granular control on the permission of the account running SQL Server Agent,
we can place the account into this SQL Server Agent user group and assign this group with necessary minimum permissions.
In
SQL Server 2008 and 2008R2, when SQL Server is installed, the group name has
been changed to SQLServerSQLAgentUser$ServerName$MSSQLSERVER or SQLServerSQLAgentUser$ServerName$InstanceName.
In SQL
Server 2012 and 2014 in the Windows Server 2008 R2 or Windows 7/8
environments, a virtual account using the instance name as the service name is
used, in the format NT
SERVICE\<SERVICENAME>.
Services that run as virtual accounts access network resources by using the
credentials of the computer account in the format <domain_name>\<computer_name>$. In
my case, SQL Server 2012 was installed as the default instance on Windows 8.1, so the default SQL
Server Agent account is NT Service\SQLSERVERAGENT. On my VM for the 2014 tabular
instance, it is NT Service\SQLAGENT$SQL2014Tabular. Note that this virtual account is not
visible in the list of Local Users or Groups.
