Error with credentials installing SQL 2008 R2 PowerPivot on SharePoint 2010 Front End

Question

Scenario: We have a server farm that consists of (2) back-end servers, (2) web front-ends that are accessed via the internal network, and (2) web front-ends that are accessed from outside the network (i.e. Extranet users). The two Extranet front-ends are firewalled off from the network and can only access the SQL database and a read-only domain controller.

Issue: PowerPivot has been installed on the four internal servers without issue. However, when trying to install PowerPivot on the two Extranet servers, I get the following error when trying to configure the Service Account during install:

The credentials you provided for analysis services service are invalid. To continue, provide a valid account and password for analysis services service.

Any ideas why I am having this issue?

Answer 1

The only solution I could find to this is temporarily joining the server to a network with a regular, non read-only, domain controller in it. Had attempted to add the SPNs for Analysis Services and the SQL Browser manually, but that didn't work.