Brad’s Sure Guide to SQL Server Maintenance Plans- P41: SQL Server has a reputation as being a simple database application to install, configure, and maintain. This is a little misleading. SQL Server is a powerful relational database that can handle the needs of the largest organizations and, as such, its proper maintenance almost certainly requires the attention of an experienced DBA. | Chapter 16 Introduction to the Maintenance Plan Designer If you decide to generate a text file report you have two additional options. Create a new file. This is the default option and is identical to the option provided when configuring text file reports using the Maintenance Plan Wizard where a new file is created each time a report is created. A default storage location for the report files is also provided. Append to file. This option forces all text file reports to be written to a single physical file. Obviously this file will grow in size each time a Maintenance Plan job runs. 1 suggest you stick to the default options as separate files for each text file report makes it easier to find them and the default location for the files is where DBAs always look to find them. 1f you change the location then it will make it harder for other DBAs not familiar with your configuration to find these reports. 1f you decide to ignore my advice and select the single file option then you ll also need to specify the path and the name of the file to which you want all text reports to be appended. Be warned though that it will make it much more difficult to find specific Maintenance Plan text file reports when they are all lumped together into a single file Immediately below the text file configuration options in grayed out type is the Send report to an e-mail recipient option. 1t is very similar to the option available from the Maintenance Plan Wizard option that sends an e-mail to an operator when a Maintenance Plan job completes. However there is one important difference you can t use it. Likewise the next option on the screen Agent operator is grayed out and can t be used. So how come you can set this option using the Maintenance Plan Wizard but not with the Maintenance Plan Designer 1t s not a mistake this is intentional. The Maintenance Plan Designer has a special maintenance task called the Notify Operator which is a much more powerful way of notifying DBAs if something .
