Sqllib error: System table sys.sysdatabases is empty

Products

• Endpoint Protection

Issue/Introduction

After completing installation of Symantec Endpoint Protection Management w/ SQL Express on a Domain Controller the Event Logs are showing the following error message is being generated at the same times every day.

Application    Error    SQLWRITER    <Name>        24581    Sqllib error: System table sys.sysdatabases in SQL Server instance <Name>\SQLEXPRESSSYMC is empty.    

Environment

Endpoint Protection 14.3 RU8

Cause

SQL Express is attempting to backup the SEM5 database, however due to additional protections on domain controllers the NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM account doesn't have the necessary permissions to generate the backup.

Resolution

Need to grant the user 'NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM' the 'sysadmin' role in SQL Express to grant the necessary permissions to allow backups to complete.

From a command prompt execute the following command to enter the SQL command line interface on the SEPM.

sqlcmd -E -S .\SQLEXPRESSSYMC  

Note: If your SQL instance is name something different change SQLEXPRESSSYMC to your SQL instance name.

Inside the command line interface enter the following commands

use master
go
sp_addsrvrolemember 'NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM','sysadmin'
go
exit