MOSS 2007 service accounts clarity

[masterracker]

I'm preparing to do my first MOSS installation (ver 2007) into a small farm: 1 SQL 2005 server and everything else going onto a single Win2003 Virtual Server. I want this to be scalable going forward but I also want to simplify the number of service accounts as much as possible. This document shows at least 13 accounts and is somewhat overwhelming: technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc263445.aspx . This post whittles it down to 6 accounts but doesn't map those to the ones mentioned in the first doc: www.sharepointblogs.com/mattg/archive/2008/04/10/moss-service-accounts.aspx. I've also seen some other information suggesting I can get by with 4 accounts.

Can anyone point me to a "SharePoint for the Clueless" type guide that might clarify the account requirements further? I'm especially interested in how to map a reduced set of accounts to the 13 functions listed in the MS Document. (IE. some accounts will be used more than once - which one do I use for which installation prompt?) I would also like to see a document that gives better detail on what resources on which machines each of the accounts has to be given permission to.

Unfortunately, I'm finding the initial learning curve to be quite steep.

[Jay Mueller]

Jun 26, 2008 7:44:43 GMT -6 masterracker said:

I'm preparing to do my first MOSS installation (ver 2007) into a small farm: 1 SQL 2005 server and everything else going onto a single Win2003 Virtual Server. I want this to be scalable going forward but I also want to simplify the number of service accounts as much as possible. This document shows at least 13 accounts and is somewhat overwhelming: technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc263445.aspx . This post whittles it down to 6 accounts but doesn't map those to the ones mentioned in the first doc: www.sharepointblogs.com/mattg/archive/2008/04/10/moss-service-accounts.aspx. I've also seen some other information suggesting I can get by with 4 accounts.

Can anyone point me to a "SharePoint for the Clueless" type guide that might clarify the account requirements further? I'm especially interested in how to map a reduced set of accounts to the 13 functions listed in the MS Document. (IE. some accounts will be used more than once - which one do I use for which installation prompt?) I would also like to see a document that gives better detail on what resources on which machines each of the accounts has to be given permission to.

Unfortunately, I'm finding the initial learning curve to be quite steep.

You can get away with 2 service accounts. 1 for every service except for search. When you install it will ask you for the Default Access Account and when you configure SharePoint it will ask you for a search account when setting up the MOSS Search. The installation will handle the assigning of privilages so you don't have to map to anything unless you start to receive errors. The Microsoft document is a good resource for what a single account needs access too.