Could anyone please explain to me how to create jobs in SQL Server Express
edition?
Using SQL Server Management StudioIn Object Explorer, connect to an instance of the SQL Server Database Engine, and then expand that instance. Expand SQL Server Agent, create a new job or right-click an existing job, and then click Properties. In the Job Properties dialog, click the Steps page, and then click New.
No. SQL Server Express Edition is a free version that does not include the SQL Agent (because it is free).
Express edition limitations Microsoft SQL Server Express has a 10 GB maximum database size and other important limits. High load scenarios are not supported by Express. Symptoms can include database connection errors. Express has a "LocalDB" preset.
SQL Server Express doesn't include SQL Server Agent, so it's not possible to just create SQL Agent jobs.
What you can do is:
You can create jobs "manually" by creating batch files and SQL script files, and running them via Windows Task Scheduler.
For example, you can backup your database with two files like this:
backup.bat:
sqlcmd -i backup.sql
backup.sql:
backup database TeamCity to disk = 'c:\backups\MyBackup.bak'
Just put both files into the same folder and exeute the batch file via Windows Task Scheduler.
The first file is just a Windows batch file which calls the sqlcmd utility and passes a SQL script file.
The SQL script file contains T-SQL. In my example, it's just one line to backup a database, but you can put any T-SQL inside. For example, you could do some UPDATE
queries instead.
If the jobs you want to create are for backups, index maintenance or integrity checks, you could also use the excellent Maintenance Solution by Ola Hallengren.
It consists of a bunch of stored procedures (and SQL Agent jobs for non-Express editions of SQL Server), and in the FAQ there’s a section about how to run the jobs on SQL Server Express:
How do I get started with the SQL Server Maintenance Solution on SQL Server Express?
SQL Server Express has no SQL Server Agent. Therefore, the execution of the stored procedures must be scheduled by using cmd files and Windows Scheduled Tasks. Follow these steps.
SQL Server Express has no SQL Server Agent. Therefore, the execution of the stored procedures must be scheduled by using cmd files and Windows Scheduled Tasks. Follow these steps.
Download MaintenanceSolution.sql.
Execute MaintenanceSolution.sql. This script creates the stored procedures that you need.
Create cmd files to execute the stored procedures; for example:
sqlcmd -E -S .\SQLEXPRESS -d master -Q "EXECUTE dbo.DatabaseBackup @Databases = 'USER_DATABASES', @Directory = N'C:\Backup', @BackupType = 'FULL'" -b -o C:\Log\DatabaseBackup.txtIn Windows Scheduled Tasks, create tasks to call the cmd files.
Schedule the tasks.
Start the tasks and verify that they are completing successfully.
The functionality of creating SQL Agent Jobs is not available in SQL Server Express Edition. An alternative is to execute a batch file that executes a SQL script using Windows Task Scheduler.
In order to do this first create a batch file named sqljob.bat
sqlcmd -S servername -U username -P password -i <path of sqljob.sql>
Replace the servername
, username
, password
and path
with yours.
Then create the SQL Script file named sqljob.sql
USE [databasename] --T-SQL commands go here GO
Replace the [databasename]
with your database name. The USE
and GO
is necessary when you write the SQL script.
sqlcmd
is a command-line utility to execute SQL scripts. After creating these two files execute the batch file using Windows Task Scheduler.
NB: An almost same answer was posted for this question before. But I felt it was incomplete as it didn't specify about login information using sqlcmd
.
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