Chapter 13. Automating SQL Server 2008 Administration
SQL Server database administration is full of mundane, repetitive tasks such as log reviews and preventive maintenance. Fortunately, SQL Server offers techniques to alleviate much of this boring work through the use of SQL Server Agent and maintenance plans. As does any other agent, SQL Server agent acts on your behalf to assist with database maintenance and monitoring tasks.
In this chapter, you discover how to automate your database administration tasks using these tools. I show you how you can get rid of the burden of regularly implementing the techniques discussed in Chapter 12 through the power of automation.
Scheduling Tasks with SQL Server Agent
SQL Server Agent is the core of SQL Server's automation capabilities. It allows you to instruct SQL Server to perform actions on a scheduled, automated basis, alleviating you of many of the tedious demands of database administration.
In this section, I provide you with the information you need to start SQL Server Agent running on your database server, create jobs that you would like to run in an automated fashion, and schedule those jobs to occur on a periodic basis.
Starting SQL Server Agent
Before you can schedule tasks with SQL Server Agent, you need to make sure that the SQL Server Agent service is running on your database server. To do so, follow these steps:
Start SQL Server Configuration Manager.
Tip
I discuss the process for starting SQL Server Configuration Manager in Chapter 3 ...
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