Changing sql server service and sql server agent service startup account in SQL Server hosting SharePoint DB

Question

Hi 
i have a sharepoint deployment with one SQL Server (running on VM) hosting the config DB and another SQL Server (Physical Host because VM was running out of space) to host the huge Content DBs. I need to schedule automatic backups of the Content DBs to a
network share. For that i need to run the SQL Server Service with an account having permissions to the share as suggested in https://support.microsoft.com/kb/207187?wa=wsignin1.0
I tried changing the logon as a service account to a domain
account which has permissions to the Network Share and is also in local Administrators group of SQL Server and has "public and sysadmin" roles in SQL Server but that caused an issue. the SharePoint Web Application started showing a White Screen so
I had to revert back to the default accounts i.e. NT Service\SQLSERVERAGENT and NT Service\MSSQLSERVER. I viewed the event logs . These are the types of error i got after changing the logon as a service account to a domain account
1) Information Rights Management (IRM): Retried too many times to initialize IRM client. Cannot retry more. Retried times is:0x5.
System
Provider
[ Name]
Microsoft-SharePoint Products-SharePoint Foundation
[ Guid]
{6FB7E0CD-52E7-47DD-997A-241563931FC2}
EventID
5148
Version
15
Level
2
Task
9
Opcode
0
Keywords
0x4000000000000000
TimeCreated
[ SystemTime]
2015-02-02T04:46:04.750899500Z
EventRecordID
176477
Correlation
[ ActivityID]
{8FACE59C-1E17-50D0-7135-25FDB824CDBE}
Execution
[ ProcessID]
6912
[ ThreadID]
8872
Channel
Application
Computer
Security
[ UserID]
S-1-5-21-876248814-3204482948-604612597-111753
EventData
hex0
0x5
2)
Unknown SQL Exception 0 occurred. Additional error information from SQL Server is included below.
The target principal name is incorrect.  Cannot generate SSPI context.
System
Provider
[ Name]
Microsoft-SharePoint Products-SharePoint Foundation
[ Guid]
{6FB7E0CD-52E7-47DD-997A-241563931FC2}
EventID
5586
Version
15
Level
2
Task
3
Opcode
0
Keywords
0x4000000000000000
TimeCreated
[ SystemTime]
2015-02-02T07:01:35.843757700Z
EventRecordID
176490
Correlation
[ ActivityID]
{50B4E59C-5E3A-50D0-7135-22AD91909F02}
Execution
[ ProcessID]
6912
[ ThreadID]
5452
Channel
Application
Computer
Security
[ UserID]
S-1-5-17
EventData
int0
0
string1
The target principal name is incorrect. Cannot generate SSPI context.

Answer 1

Hi Aparna,
According to your description, you get the above two errors when scheduling backups of Content DB. Right?
Based on those two error messages, they are related to the service principal name(SPN) for SQL Server service. Please verify the if the SPN is registered successfully. You can view it in ADSI Edit or use command line. Please see:
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/psssql/archive/2010/03/09/what-spn-do-i-use-and-how-does-it-get-there.aspx
When installing SQL Server, those two services below should be registered:
        MSSQLSvc/servername:1433      
        MSSQLSvc/servername
Please check if those SPNs or duplicated SPNs exist. You can use command to reset SPN or remove duplicated SPN and add new one. See:
Setspn.
We have also met this issue when this SPN is registered under Administrator. Please try to register it under Computer. You can add it in ADSI Edit.
If you have any question, please feel free to ask.
Simon Hou
TechNet Community Support