How can I schedule a job to run a SQL query daily?

To do this in t-sql, you can use the following system stored procedures to schedule a daily job. This example schedules daily at 1:00 AM. See Microsoft help for details on syntax of the individual stored procedures and valid range of parameters.

DECLARE @job_name NVARCHAR(128), @description NVARCHAR(512), @owner_login_name NVARCHAR(128), @database_name NVARCHAR(128);

SET @job_name = N'Some Title';
SET @description = N'Periodically do something';
SET @owner_login_name = N'login';
SET @database_name = N'Database_Name';

-- Delete job if it already exists:
IF EXISTS(SELECT job_id FROM msdb.dbo.sysjobs WHERE (name = @job_name))
BEGIN
    EXEC msdb.dbo.sp_delete_job
        @job_name = @job_name;
END

-- Create the job:
EXEC  msdb.dbo.sp_add_job
    @job_name=@job_name, 
    @enabled=1, 
    @notify_level_eventlog=0, 
    @notify_level_email=2, 
    @notify_level_netsend=2, 
    @notify_level_page=2, 
    @delete_level=0, 
    @description=@description, 
    @category_name=N'[Uncategorized (Local)]', 
    @owner_login_name=@owner_login_name;

-- Add server:
EXEC msdb.dbo.sp_add_jobserver @job_name=@job_name;

-- Add step to execute SQL:
EXEC msdb.dbo.sp_add_jobstep
    @job_name=@job_name,
    @step_name=N'Execute SQL', 
    @step_id=1, 
    @cmdexec_success_code=0, 
    @on_success_action=1, 
    @on_fail_action=2, 
    @retry_attempts=0, 
    @retry_interval=0, 
    @os_run_priority=0, 
    @subsystem=N'TSQL', 
    @command=N'EXEC my_stored_procedure; -- OR ANY SQL STATEMENT', 
    @database_name=@database_name, 
    @flags=0;

-- Update job to set start step:
EXEC msdb.dbo.sp_update_job
    @job_name=@job_name, 
    @enabled=1, 
    @start_step_id=1, 
    @notify_level_eventlog=0, 
    @notify_level_email=2, 
    @notify_level_netsend=2, 
    @notify_level_page=2, 
    @delete_level=0, 
    @description=@description, 
    @category_name=N'[Uncategorized (Local)]', 
    @owner_login_name=@owner_login_name, 
    @notify_email_operator_name=N'', 
    @notify_netsend_operator_name=N'', 
    @notify_page_operator_name=N'';

-- Schedule job:
EXEC msdb.dbo.sp_add_jobschedule
    @job_name=@job_name,
    @name=N'Daily',
    @enabled=1,
    @freq_type=4,
    @freq_interval=1, 
    @freq_subday_type=1, 
    @freq_subday_interval=0, 
    @freq_relative_interval=0, 
    @freq_recurrence_factor=1, 
    @active_start_date=20170101, --YYYYMMDD
    @active_end_date=99991231, --YYYYMMDD (this represents no end date)
    @active_start_time=010000, --HHMMSS
    @active_end_time=235959; --HHMMSS

  1. Expand the SQL Server Agent node and right click the Jobs node in SQL Server Agent and select 'New Job'

  2. In the 'New Job' window enter the name of the job and a description on the 'General' tab.

  3. Select 'Steps' on the left hand side of the window and click 'New' at the bottom.

  4. In the 'Steps' window enter a step name and select the database you want the query to run against.

  5. Paste in the T-SQL command you want to run into the Command window and click 'OK'.

  6. Click on the 'Schedule' menu on the left of the New Job window and enter the schedule information (e.g. daily and a time).

  7. Click 'OK' - and that should be it.

(There are of course other options you can add - but I would say that is the bare minimum you need to get a job set up and scheduled)


I made an animated GIF of the steps in the accepted answer. This is from MSSQL Server 2012

Schedule SQL Job