What does SQL Server Agent do?

Question

SQL Server Agent is a Microsoft Windows service that runs scheduled administrative tasks that are called jobs. You can use SQL Server Agent to run T-SQL jobs to rebuild indexes, run corruption checks, and aggregate data in a SQL Server DB instance.

Do I need SQL Server Agent running?

Microsoft SQL Server Agent must be running as a service in order to automate administrative tasks. For more information, see Configure SQL Server Agent. Object Explorer only displays the SQL Server Agent node if you have permission to use it.

What is SQL Server Agent service?

The SQL Server Agent service startup account defines the Windows account that SQL Server Agent runs as, as well as its network permissions. This topic describes how to set the SQL Server Agent service account with SQL Server Configuration Manager in SQL Server by using SQL Server Management Studio.

What database does SQL Server Agent use?

The msdb database is mostly known as “the SQL Server Agent database” because it stores information of all SQL Agent jobs as their configuration and their execution history.

What happens if SQL Server Agent is stopped?

If the SQL Server Service is stopped manually, SQL Agent Service will not automatically start when SQL Server Service is manually started. In this specific scenario, SQL Agent Service will also need to be started manually.

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