SQL Server Agent vs. JAMS Job Scheduler?

JAMS is the SQL Server Agent AlternativeIf you’ve experienced blocking or have been tempted to allow non-administrators to run batch jobs on your database, that’s exactly how the conversation might start. More likely, though, you’re reading this because your organization is growing, either in scale or complexity, and you need to break workload automation away from the limits imposed by native tools like SQL Server Agent. Our recent webcast with MSSQLTips focused on batch automation and what DBAs can do to keep their databases running at peak performance levels.

Don’t Lower Your Standards

It may take time to set up batch processes for repetitive database tasks, such as backups, maintenance, data loads and integrity checks, but without them, even a small datacenter can become unwieldy. SQL MVP Jeremey Kadlec showed off best practices such as:

  • Setting appropriate alerts (not too many, not too few) and enabling fail-safe operators
  • Trimming log files to prevent storage issues
  • Distributing jobs across multiple server to alleviate load issues
  • Commenting changes to SQL Agent jobs
  • Identifying and troubleshooting failed jobs

Implementing these practices in your own environment will help prevent some of the common problems SQL DBAs encounter on a daily basis.

Up Your Game with JAMS, the SQL Server Agent Alternative

JAMS Job Scheduler takes SQL automation to another level. In the same webcast, we look at how centralized, cross-platform job scheduling can be applied to the datacenter and how it can relieve DBAs from writing and maintaining scripts for batch processes. Some of the features that have motivated SQL-intensive organizations to switch to JAMS include:

  • Calendaring – Where SQL Agent requires a variety of scripts and queries to configure a customized schedule, JAMS supports natural language date specifications and company-specific calendars.
  • Access Controls – Centralized user controls in JAMS expand job scheduling privileges, without giving away the “keys to the castle”.
  • Cross-platform Job Chaining – Kicking off SQL jobs based on the completion of non-SQL jobs (e.g. ERP) and passing variables from SQL into JAMS jobs.
  • Audit Trail – JAMS version control records the details of every change to your SQL jobs.

See How Centralized Job Scheduling Can Handle Your SQL Jobs

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