sqlmaint Utility
Applies to: 
SQL Server
Thesqlmaint utility performs a specified set of maintenance operations on one or more databases. Use sqlmaint to run DBCC checks, back up a database and its transaction log, update statistics, and rebuild indexes. All database maintenance activities generate a report that can be sent to a designated text file, HTML file, or e-mail account. sqlmaint executes database maintenance plans created with previous versions of SQL Server. To run SQL Server maintenance plans from the command prompt, use the dtexec Utility.
Important
This feature will be removed in a future version of SQL Server. Avoid using this feature in new development work, and plan to modify applications that currently use this feature. Use SQL Server maintenance plan feature instead. For more information on maintenance plans, see Maintenance Plans.
Syntax
sqlmaint
[-?] |
[
[-S server_name[\instance_name]]
[-U login_ID [-P password]]
{
[-D database_name | -PlanName name | -PlanID guid ]
[-Rpt text_file]
[-To operator_name]
[-HtmlRpt html_file [-DelHtmlRpt <time_period>] ]
[-RmUnusedSpace threshold_percentfree_percent]
[-CkDB | -CkDBNoIdx]
[-CkAl | -CkAlNoIdx]
[-CkCat]
[-UpdOptiStats sample_percent]
[-RebldIdx free_space]
[-SupportComputedColumn]
[-WriteHistory]
[
{-BkUpDB [backup_path] | -BkUpLog [backup_path] }
{-BkUpMedia
{DISK [
[-DelBkUps <time_period>]
[-CrBkSubDir ]
[-UseDefDir ]
]
| TAPE
}
}
[-BkUpOnlyIfClean]
[-VrfyBackup]
]
}
]
<time_period> ::=
number[minutes | hours | days | weeks | months]
Arguments
The parameters and their values must be separated by a space. For example, there must be a space between -S and server_name.
-?
Specifies that the syntax diagram for sqlmaint be returned. This parameter must be used alone.
-S server_name[ \instance_name]
Specifies the target instance of Microsoft SQL Server. Specify server_name to connect to the default instance of SQL Server Database Engine on that server. Specify server_name\instance_name to connect to a named instance of Database Engine on that server. If no server is specified, sqlmaint connects to the default instance of Database Engine on the local computer.
-U login_ID
Specifies the login ID to use when connecting to the server. If not supplied, sqlmaint attempts to use Microsoft Windows Authentication. If login_ID contains special characters, it must be enclosed in double quotation marks ("); otherwise, the double quotation marks are optional.
Important
When possible, use Windows Authentication.
-P password
Specifies the password for the login ID. Only valid if the -U parameter is also supplied. If password contains special characters, it must be enclosed in double quotation marks; otherwise, the double quotation marks are optional.
Important
The password is not masked. When possible, use Windows Authentication.
-D database_name
Specifies the name of the database in which to perform the maintenance operation. If database_name contains special characters, it must be enclosed in double quotation marks; otherwise, the double quotation marks are optional.
-PlanName name
Specifies the name of a database maintenance plan defined using the Database Maintenance Plan Wizard. The only information sqlmaint uses from the plan is the list of the databases in the plan. Any maintenance activities you specify in the other sqlmaint parameters are applied to this list of databases.
-PlanID guid
Specifies the globally unique identifier (GUID) of a database maintenance plan defined using the Database Maintenance Plan Wizard. The only information sqlmaint uses from the plan is the list of the databases in the plan. Any maintenance activities you specify in the other sqlmaint parameters are applied to this list of databases. This must match a plan_id value in msdb.dbo.sysdbmaintplans.
-Rpt text_file
Specifies the full path and name of the file into which the report is to be generated. The report is also generated on the screen. The report maintains version information by adding a date to the file name. The date is generated as follows: at the end of the file name but before the period, in the form _yyyyMMddhhmm. yyyy = year, MM = month, dd = day, hh = hour, mm = minute.
If you run the utility at 10:23 A.M. on December 1, 1996, and this is the text_file value:
c:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\Mssql\Backup\AdventureWorks2022_maint.rpt
The generated file name is:
c:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\Mssql\Backup\AdventureWorks2022_maint_199612011023.rpt
The full Universal Naming Convention (UNC) file name is required for text_file when sqlmaint accesses a remote server.
-To operator_name
Specifies the operator to whom the generated report is sent through SQL Mail.
-HtmlRpt html_file
Specifies the full path and name of the file into which an HTML report is to be generated. sqlmaint generates the file name by appending a string of the format _yyyyMMddhhmm to the file name, just as it does for the -Rpt parameter.
The full UNC file name is required for html_file when sqlmaint accesses a remote server.
-DelHtmlRpt <time_period>
Specifies that any HTML report in the report directory be deleted if the time interval after the creation of the report file exceeds <time_period>. -DelHtmlRpt looks for files whose name fits the pattern generated from the html_file parameter. If html_file is c:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\Mssql\Backup\AdventureWorks2022_maint.htm, then -DelHtmlRpt causes sqlmaint to delete any files whose names match the pattern C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\Mssql\Backup\AdventureWorks2022_maint*.htm and that are older than the specified <time_period>.
-RmUnusedSpace threshold_percent free_percent
Specifies that unused space be removed from the database specified in -D. This option is only useful for databases that are defined to grow automatically. Threshold_percent specifies in megabytes the size that the database must reach before sqlmaint attempts to remove unused data space. If the database is smaller than the threshold_percent, no action is taken. Free_percent specifies how much unused space must remain in the database, specified as a percentage of the final size of the database. For example, if a 200-MB database contains 100 MB of data, specifying 10 for free_percent results in the final database size being 110 MB. Note that a database is not expanded if it is smaller than free_percent plus the amount of data in the database. For example, if a 108-MB database has 100 MB of data, specifying 10 for free_percent does not expand the database to 110 MB; it remains at 108 MB.
-CkDB | -CkDBNoIdx
Specifies that a DBCC CHECKDB statement or a DBCC CHECKDB statement with the NOINDEX option be run in the database specified in -D. For more information, see DBCC CHECKDB.
A warning is written to text_file if the database is in use when sqlmaint runs.
-CkAl | -CkAlNoIdx
Specifies that a DBCC CHECKALLOC statement with the NOINDEX option be run in the database specified in -D. For more information, see DBCC CHECKALLOC (Transact-SQL).
-CkCat
Specifies that a DBCC CHECKCATALOG (Transact-SQL) statement be run in the database specified in -D. For more information, see DBCC CHECKCATALOG (Transact-SQL).
-UpdOptiStats sample_percent
Specifies that the following statement be run on each table in the database:
UPDATE STATISTICS table WITH SAMPLE sample_percent PERCENT;
If the tables contain computed columns, you must also specify the -SupportedComputedColumn argument when you use -UpdOptiStats.
For more information, see UPDATE STATISTICS (Transact-SQL).
-RebldIdx free_space
Specifies that indexes on tables in the target database should be rebuilt by using the free_space percent value as the inverse of the fill factor. For example, if free_space percentage is 30, then the fill factor used is 70. If a free_space percentage value of 100 is specified, then the indexes are rebuilt with the original fill factor value.
If the indexes are on computed columns, you must also specify the -SupportComputedColumn argument when you use -RebldIdx.
-SupportComputedColumn
Must be specified to run DBCC maintenance commands with sqlmaint on computed columns.
-WriteHistory
Specifies that an entry be made in msdb.dbo.sysdbmaintplan_history for each maintenance action performed by sqlmaint. If -PlanName or -PlanID is specified, the entries in sysdbmaintplan_history use the ID of the specified plan. If -D is specified, the entries in sysdbmaintplan_history are made with zeroes for the plan ID.
-BkUpDB [ backup_path] | -BkUpLog [ backup_path ]
Specifies a backup action. -BkUpDb backs up the entire database. -BkUpLog backs up only the transaction log.
backup_path specifies the directory for the backup. backup_path is not needed if -UseDefDir is also specified, and is overridden by -UseDefDir if both are specified. The backup can be placed in a directory or a tape device address (for example, \\.\TAPE0). The file name for a database backup is generated automatically as follows:
dbname_db_yyyyMMddhhmm.BAK
where
dbname is the name of the database being backed up.
yyyyMMddhhmm is the time of the backup operation with yyyy = year, MM = month, dd = day, hh = hour, and mm = minute.
The file name for a transaction backup is generated automatically with a similar format:
dbname_log_yyyymmddhhmm.BAK
If you use the -BkUpDB parameter, you must also specify the media by using the -BkUpMedia parameter.
-BkUpMedia
Specifies the media type of the backup, either DISK or TAPE.
DISK
Specifies that the backup medium is disk.
-DelBkUps< time_period >
For disk backups, specifies that any backup file in the backup directory be deleted if the time interval after the creation of the backup exceeds the <time_period>.
-CrBkSubDir
For disk backups, specifies that a subdirectory be created in the [backup_path] directory or in the default backup directory if -UseDefDir is also specified. The name of the subdirectory is generated from the database name specified in -D. -CrBkSubDir offers an easy way to put all the backups for different databases into separate subdirectories without having to change the backup_path parameter.
-UseDefDir
For disk backups, specifies that the backup file be created in the default backup directory. UseDefDir overrides backup_path if both are specified. With a default Microsoft SQL Server setup, the default backup directory is C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL10_50.MSSQLSERVER\MSSQL\Backup.
TAPE
Specifies that the backup medium is tape.
-BkUpOnlyIfClean
Specifies that the backup occur only if any specified -Ck checks did not find problems with the data. Maintenance actions run in the same sequence as they appear in the command prompt. Specify the parameters -CkDB, -CkDBNoIdx, -CkAl, -CkAlNoIdx, -CkTxtAl, or -CkCat before the -BkUpDB/-BkUpLog parameter(s) if you are also going to specify -BkUpOnlyIfClean, or the backup occurs whether or not the check reports problems.
-VrfyBackup
Specifies that RESTORE VERIFYONLY be run on the backup when it completes.
number[minutes| hours| day| weeks| months]
Specifies the time interval used to determine if a report or backup file is old enough to be deleted. number is an integer followed (without a space) by a unit of time. Valid examples:
12weeks
3months
15days
If only number is specified, the default date part is weeks.
Remarks
The sqlmaint utility performs maintenance operations on one or more databases. If -D is specified, the operations specified in the remaining switches are performed only on the specified database. If -PlanName or -PlanID are specified, the only information sqlmaint retrieves from the specified maintenance plan is the list of databases in the plan. All operations specified in the remaining sqlmaint parameters are applied against each database in the list obtained from the plan. The sqlmaint utility does not apply any of the maintenance activities defined in the plan itself.
The sqlmaint utility returns 0 if it runs successfully or 1 if it fails. Failure is reported:
If any of the maintenance actions fail.
If -CkDB, -CkDBNoIdx, -CkAl, -CkAlNoIdx, -CkTxtAl, or -CkCat checks find problems with the data.
If a general failure is encountered.
Permissions
The sqlmaint utility can be executed by any Windows user with Read and Execute permission on sqlmaint.exe, which by default is stored in the x:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL13.MSSQLSERVER1\MSSQL\Binn folder. Additionally, the SQL Server login specified with -login_ID must have the SQL Server permissions required to perform the specified action. If the connection to SQL Server uses Windows Authentication, the SQL Server login mapped to the authenticated Windows user must have the SQL Server permissions required to perform the specified action.
For example, using the -BkUpDB requires permission to execute the BACKUP statement. And using the -UpdOptiStats argument requires permission to execute the UPDATE STATISTICS statement. For more information, see the "Permissions" sections of the corresponding topics in Books Online.
Examples
A. Performing DBCC checks on a database
sqlmaint -S MyServer -D AdventureWorks2022 -CkDB -CkAl -CkCat -Rpt C:\MyReports\AdvWks_chk.rpt
B. Updating statistics using a 15% sample in all databases in a plan. Also, shrink any of the database that have reached 110 MB to having only 10% free space
sqlmaint -S MyServer -PlanName MyUserDBPlan -UpdOptiStats 15 -RmUnusedSpace 110 10
C. Backing up all the databases in a plan to their individual subdirectories in the default x:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL13.MSSQLSERVER\MSSQL\Backup directory. Also, delete any backups older than 2 weeks
sqlmaint -S MyServer -PlanName MyUserDBPlan -BkUpDB -BkUpMedia DISK -UseDefDir -CrBkSubDir -DelBkUps 2weeks
D. Backing up a database to the default x:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL13.MSSQLSERVER\MSSQL\Backup directory.\
sqlmaint -S MyServer -BkUpDB -BkUpMedia DISK -UseDefDir