Is agent running?

  • Much to my horror I found that agent had not been running on an instance for abouut 5 days and I had no idea. This meant there hadn't been any sql backups (I did have file backups) and other jobs had obviously not run. Obviously if jobs fail I get notified but how do I tell automatically for all my instances that agent is running in the first place?

  • One way is to monitor for the process to be running - lots of options, one Im familiar with is ServersAlive, lets you use quite a few different methods to check that a server is functioning, one of them is looking for a specific process.

    Beyond that, I'd suggest making sure that agent is set to auto start and autorestart. You could also have it just send you email once a day, you just look for that email.

    Andy

    http://www.sqlservercentral.com/columnists/awarren/

  • quote:


    I'd suggest making sure that agent is set to auto start and autorestart. You could also have it just send you email once a day, you just look for that email.

    Andy


    Andy, I am also having trouble with Agent not re-starting and jobs not being run. Also - is there any other way but Microsoft Exchange to set up SQL mail accounts? There seems to be no documentation on this anywhere? POP3 SMTP? Outlook?

    -Chad (chad@codemine.com)

  • Is there any indication as to why SQL Server Agent is stopping in the first place? What you may have to resort to is running a Task Scheduler job every so often to check to see if the service is running and if not, restarting it.

    As for SQL Mail, as long as you can create a MAPI profile, yes, you can use SQL Mail. That means you can create a MAPI profile pointing to an SMTP server. Exchange isn't a requirement.

    K. Brian Kelley, GSEC

    http://www.truthsolutions.com/

    Author: Start to Finish Guide to SQL Server Performance Monitoring

    http://www.netimpress.com/

    K. Brian Kelley
    @kbriankelley

  • quote:


    Much to my horror I found that agent had not been running on an instance for abouut 5 days and I had no idea. This meant there hadn't been any sql backups (I did have file backups) and other jobs had obviously not run. Obviously if jobs fail I get notified but how do I tell automatically for all my instances that agent is running in the first place?


  • (Don't know what happened to my first post, but this is it:)

    You may take a look at SQLCentric - a web-based fully functional network database monitoring and alert system. It specifically monitors and alerts you for several statuses, including SQL Server and Agent Status.

    Please check us out at http://www.pearlknows.com

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