Alert
An alert is an automatic response to a specific event. The user can define the conditions under which an alert occurs. An alert can notify users and can also run a job. SQL Enterprise Job Manager has the following alert rules defined by default:
Job Failures
SQL Server instance connection failures
SQL Server Agent not running
Instance
Also known as SQL Server or SQL server instance. SQL Server supports multiple “instances” or installations on the same host computer. Each instance runs independently from all others and has its own set of installation code, configuration parameters, system and user databases, memory allocation, and security configuration.
Job
A job is a set of defined sequential operations performed by the SQL Server Agent. A job can perform a wide range of activities, including running Transact-SQL scripts, command-line applications, Microsoft ActiveX scripts, Integration Services packages, Analysis Services commands, and queries or Replication tasks. Jobs can be defined to run repetitive tasks; they can be scheduled or ran manually. Jobs can also be configured to run in response to alerts. They can automatically notify users of the job status by generating alerts.
Job Category
Job categories help the user organize their jobs for easy filtering and grouping. Some default Job categories are: Database maintenance, Data Collector, Log Shipping, Full text indexing, Replication Agent categories, etc. but users can also define their own job categories.
Job Chain
A Job Chain lets you create dependencies among jobs and schedule their execution in one server or across multiple servers.
Job Step
A job step is an action that the job takes on a database or a server. Every job must have at least one job step. Job steps can be:
Executable programs and operating system commands.
Transact-SQL statements, including stored procedures and extended stored procedures.
PowerShell scripts.
Microsoft ActiveX scripts.
Replication tasks.
Analysis Services tasks.
Integration Services packages.
Schedule
A schedule specifies when a job runs. More than one job can run on the same schedule, and more than one schedule can apply to the same job. Schedules can be set to run
when the SQL Server Agent starts, at a specific date and time, on a recurring schedule, or whenever the CPU utilization of the computer is at a level the user has defined as idle.
SQL Server Agent
SQL Server Agent is a Microsoft Windows service that executes scheduled administrative tasks, which are called jobs. SQL Server Agent uses SQL Server to store job information. Jobs contain one or more job steps. Each step contains its own task, for example, backing up a database. The SQL Server Agent can run a job on a schedule, in response to alerts, or on demand.
SQL Server Agent hosts the data collector run-time component. Data collection is scheduled as a SQL Server Agent job. When the job is run, it invokes the data collector run-time component using the parameters required to create and execute a collection set.