SQL Server AGENT

I have collected some general facts related to SQL Server Agent and how you configure it. Hope it will help you.

SQL Server Agent is the service SQL Server uses to perform administrative tasks called jobs. Jobs are made up of one or more steps to accomplish the administrative task you need performed. Jobs can be executed on a recurring schedule and they have multiple methods to notify and record the results of the job.

Configuring SQL Server Agent

The SQL Server Agent service is installed once for each named instance of SQL Server installed on the server. For the default instance the service is called SQLSERVERAGENT. Named instances are called SQLAgent$instancename.

Service Accounts

SQL Server Agent runs as a service on the SQL Server and that service needs a user account to run under. The Agent service can run under a built-in account such as Network Service or System. It can also run under a local user account or domain account.

It is a best practice to use a low privileged domain account for the SQL Server Agent service to ensure it has access to only those resources it needs. This will also allow the Agent to connect to remote servers and access network resources you've granted permission to. Additionally, if your SQL Server is running in a cluster the SQL Server Agent service account MUST use a domain account, it cannot use a built-in or local account.

You'll be prompted to configure the SQL Agent user account during SQL Server installation. If you need to change the configuration after installation you can do this via SQL Server Configuration Manager.

Books Online has a complete description of the all issues you should consider before choosing an account for SQL Server Agent. The primary note about these considerations is all the built-in accounts have security vulnerabilities.

This is of particular importance because if your users are allowed to create their own jobs (executed under the SQL Agent account) your users may access secure resources via SQL Agent they would not normally have available to them. This is critically important to consider for your organization's data security particularly if you must comply with various regulations such as PCI, HIPAA, etc.

General Configuration Options

There are a few SQL Agent settings you can customize to meet your needs, some of the most common are listed below. Unless otherwise noted, these options can be configured via SSMS or using the msdb.dbo. sp_set_sqlagent_properties

system stored procedure.

Auto-Restart Services

The SQL Server and SQL Server Agent services monitor each other and restart each other if the other service fails. You can enable or disable the auto restart of either service. Note that these options should be disabled on clusters.

SQL Agent Log Files

After installation the SQL Agent log files will be configured to use the path %SQL Install Path%\MSSQL\LOG. If the log file location doesn't meet your needs you'll find the path is not configurable during installation and is not something you can modify in the GUI.

You can get instructions for moving the log file and a T-SQL script to reconfigure your log file path in my earlier post, Moving Default Directories in SQL Server. You will need to restart SQL Agent service for these changes to take effect.

You can also configure limits to the size of Agent log data and storage duration of Agent logs. You can limit the rows stored in the log both by total number of history rows and total number of rows per job. You can also restrict how much Agent history is kept by time period (e.g. last 30 days…)

Posted By: MR. JOYDEEP DAS