After building a new cluster to replace a 2005 cluster here in the office, I discovered Analysis Services would not start.  Usually I do not put Analysis Services on the same box however one of our vendors requires SSRS, SSAS, and the Database Engine to be on the same instance.  Frustrating, I know.

When I installed the cluster, everything was operational.  However after I applied service pack two to the 2008 R2 Enterprise nodes, Analysis Services would not start.  I didn’t notice the first time that it was after the service pack was applied until I removed everything and started over fresh.

The logs were not much help and I could not find much on the internet until I eventually found a friend who suggested that the service running SSAS needed to be in the local administrators group.  Problem solved.  Now my lesson learned is here for you as well.  Enjoy!