Scheduled run of stored procedure on SQL server

Is it possible to set up somehow Microsoft SQL Server to run a stored procedure on regular basis?

Yes, in MS SQL Server, you can create scheduled jobs. In SQL Management Studio, navigate to the server, then expand the SQL Server Agent item, and finally the Jobs folder to view, edit, add scheduled jobs.

If MS SQL Server Express Edition is being used then SQL Server Agent is not available. I found the following worked for all editions:

USE Master
GO

IF  EXISTS( SELECT *
            FROM sys.objects
            WHERE object_id = OBJECT_ID(N'[dbo].[MyBackgroundTask]')
            AND type in (N'P', N'PC'))
    DROP PROCEDURE [dbo].[MyBackgroundTask]
GO

CREATE PROCEDURE MyBackgroundTask
AS
BEGIN
    -- SET NOCOUNT ON added to prevent extra result sets from
    -- interfering with SELECT statements.
    SET NOCOUNT ON;

    -- The interval between cleanup attempts
    declare @timeToRun nvarchar(50)
    set @timeToRun = '03:33:33'

    while 1 = 1
    begin
        waitfor time @timeToRun
        begin
            execute [MyDatabaseName].[dbo].[MyDatabaseStoredProcedure];
        end
    end
END
GO

-- Run the procedure when the master database starts.
sp_procoption    @ProcName = 'MyBackgroundTask',
                @OptionName = 'startup',
                @OptionValue = 'on'
GO

Some notes:

• It is worth writing an audit entry somewhere so that you can see that the query actually ran.

• The server needs rebooting once to ensure that the script runs the first time.

• A related question is: How to run a stored procedure every day in SQL Server Express Edition?

Yes, if you use the SQL Server Agent.

Open your Enterprise Manager, and go to the Management folder under the SQL Server instance you are interested in. There you will see the SQL Server Agent, and underneath that you will see a Jobs section.

Here you can create a new job and you will see a list of steps you will need to create. When you create a new step, you can specify the step to actually run a stored procedure (type TSQL Script). Choose the database, and then for the command section put in something like:

exec MyStoredProcedure

That's the overview, post back here if you need any further advice.

[I actually thought I might get in first on this one, boy was I wrong :)]

Probably not the answer you are looking for, but I find it more useful to simply use [Windows Server Task Scheduler][1]

You can use directly the command sqlcmd.exe -S "." -d YourDataBase -Q "exec SP_YourJob"

Or even create a .bat file. So you can even 2x click on the task on demand.

This has also been approached in this [HERE][2]

[1]: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms162773.aspx "Windows Server Task Scheduler" [2]: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1675206/how-to-run-a-stored-procedure-every-day-in-sql-server-express-edition%20HERE

I'll add one thing: where I'm at we used to have a bunch of batch jobs that ran every night. However, we're moving away from that to using a client application scheduled in windows scheduled tasks that kicks off each job. There are (at least) three reasons for this:

1. We have some console programs that need to run every night as well. This way all scheduled tasks can be in one place. Of course, this creates a single point of failure, but if the console jobs don't run we're gonna lose a day's work the next day anyway.
2. The program that kicks off the jobs captures print messages and errors from the server and writes them to a common application log for all our batch processes. It makes logging from withing the sql jobs much simpler.
3. If we ever need to upgrade the server (and we are hoping to do this soon) we don't need to worry about moving the jobs over. Just re-point the application once.

It's a real short VB.Net app: I can post code if any one is interested.

You could use SQL Server Service Broker to create custom made mechanism.

Idea (simplified):

1. Write a stored procedure/trigger that begins a conversation (BEGIN DIALOG) as loopback (FROM my_service TO my_service) - get conversation handler

    DECLARE @dialog UNIQUEIDENTIFIER;
   
    BEGIN DIALOG CONVERSATION @dialog
    		FROM SERVICE   [name] 
    		TO SERVICE      'name' 
    		...;
   

2. Start the conversation timer

    DECLARE @time INT;
    BEGIN CONVERSATION TIMER (@dialog) 	TIMEOUT = @time;
   

3. After specified number of seconds a message will be sent to a service. It will be enqueued with associated queue.

    CREATE QUEUE queue_name WITH STATUS = ON, RETENTION = OFF
                 , ACTIVATION (STATUS = ON, PROCEDURE_NAME = <procedure_name>
                 , MAX_QUEUE_READERS = 20, EXECUTE AS N'dbo')
                  , POISON_MESSAGE_HANDLING (STATUS = ON) 
   

4. Procedure will execute specific code and reanable timer to fire again.

---

You can find fully-baked solution(T-SQL) written by Michał Gołoś called Task Scheduler

Key points from blog:

Pros:

• Supported on each version (from Express to Enterprise). SQL Server Agent Job is not available for SQL Server Express
• Scoped to database level. You could easiliy move database with associated tasks (especially when you have to move around 100 jobs from one enviromnent to another)
• Lower privileges needed to see/manipulate tasks(database level)

Proposed distinction:

SQL Server Agent (maintenance):

• backups
• index/statistics rebuilds
• replication

Task Scheduler (business processes):

• removing old data
• preaggregations/cyclic recalculations
• denormalization

How to set it up:

• get source code from section: "Do pobrania" - To download (enabling broker/setting up schema tsks/configuration table + triggers + stored procedure)/setting up broker things)
• set up configuration table [tsks].[tsksx_task_scheduler] to add new tasks (columns names are self-descriptive, sample task included)

Warning: Blog is written in Polish but associated source code is in English and it is easy to follow.

Warning 2: Before you use it, please make sure you have tested it on non-production environment.

Using Management Studio - you may create a Job (unter SQL Server Agent) One Job may include several Steps from T-SQL scripts up to SSIS Packages

Jeb was faster ;)

You should look at a job scheduled using the SQL Server Agent.