This document discusses 7 SQL Agent jobs that should be running to monitor a SQL Server environment. It provides background on the presenter, Mike Hillwig, and introduces the topic of using SQL Agent to automate monitoring processes. Example monitoring jobs discussed include checking for auto shrink being enabled, verifying backups are running successfully, and alerting on failed SQL Agent jobs. The presentation aims to provide both introductory information on SQL Agent and specific monitoring jobs and scripts that can be implemented.

1. Seven
SQL
Agent
Jobs
You
Should
Be
Running
Mike
Hillwig
Boston,
MA

2. Mike
Hillwig
• AKA
The
Cranky
DBA
• SQL
Server
DBA
• Working
with
SQL
Server
since
SQL
7
• Senior
DBA
at
hosFng
division
of
a
financial
soIware
company
• Know
just
enough
Oracle
to
be
dangerous
• Resume
includes
Acme
Packet,
Shawmut
Design
and
ConstrucFon,
Equitable
Resources

4. Photo
Credit:
Nedra
Isenberg

7. `

12. Obligatory
Social
Networking
Slide
• crankydba.com
• sqlserverpedia.com
• twiVer.com/mikehillwig
• anysocialmediasite.com/mikehillwig

13. Housekeeping
• Slides
and
scripts
at
sqlsaturday.com
• Blog
post
at
crankydba.com/go/7jobs
• Please
complete
your
evaluaFons
• Don’t
let
me
talk
too
fast

15. Beware
of
the
Blogs
• There
is
some
amazing
• Test
everything
in
your
advice
out
there.
But…
own
test
environment
• Anybody
can
put
bad
first.
advice
on
the
internet
• I
don’t
trust
people
who
• Trust
people
you
know
say
“ALWAYS”
or
• Assume
I’m
an
idiot
“NEVER”

25. WITFM?

26. Who
are
YOU?
• Windows
admin
turned
accidental
DBA
• Junior
DBA
learning
to
monitor
your
environment
• Mid-­‐Level
DBA
who
just
inherited
a
bunch
of
servers
and
need
a
sanity
check
• Senior
DBA
who
needs
a
framework
for
monitoring
servers
• Any
DBA
doesn’t
have
monitoring
tools

27. WHAT’S
IN
THIS
FOR
ME?

28. Windows
Server
Admins
• A
beVer
understanding
of
this
SQL
Server
Agent
thingie

29. Junior
DBAs
• Ready-­‐to-­‐use
scripts
that
you
can
deploy
in
your
environment

30. More
Senior
DBAs
• Framework
for
building
your
own
alerts

31. What
is
this
SQL
Agent
thingie?
• SQL
Server’s
tool
for
automaFng
processes
• Allows
you
to
schedule
things
to
run
– SQL
Scripts
– Windows
executables
– WMI
scripts
• Can
even
watch
for
certain
errors
or
situaFons
and
take
acFon

33. What
are
we
doing
with
it?
• Simple
cause
and
effect
• If
you
see
something,
say
something
• Run
a
query
that
looks
for
problems
• If
problem
is
found,
call
for
help

34. Spam
vs
Mail
• Today’s
examples
send
mail
• In
a
perfect
world,
you’d
log
a
Fcket
with
your
support
system
• But
for
the
sake
of
simplicity
in
our
scripts,
we’re
sending
mail
today
• Make
sure
your
SQL
Agent
can
send
mail
– Enable
Mail
XPs

36. What
Seven
Things
Cause
Our
Dogs
to
bark?
1. Seeing
themselves
in
the
mirror
2. Autoshrink
enabled.
3. Databases
never
backed
up
or
no
full
backup
in
X
hours
4. No
transacFon
log
backup
in
X
hours
5. Default
File
Growths
6. Databases
with
datafiles
that
don’t
grow
7. Failed
jobs
in
the
past
24
hours

37. Enough
Talk
• Lets
demo!