Setting up a basic SQL maintenance plan

Transformations strongly recommends setting up scheduled SQL maintenance plans to rebuild the indexes, update the SQL statistics, and create and manage database backups. The following steps will create a basic maintenance plan which can be further tailored to suit your organization's needs:

1. Open Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio, right-click on Management >> Maintenance Plans, and select Maintenance Wizard.
   
   
   
2. Click Next to start the wizard.
   
   
   
3. Give the maintenance plan a descriptive name (Uluro Database Maintenance Plan) and select Separate schedules for each task.
   
   
   
4. Select the following maintenance tasks:
   
   
   • Rebuild Index
   • Update Statistics
   • Clean Up History
   • Back Up Database (Full)
     
     
5. Unless explicitly needed, keep the default task order.
   
   
   
6. Default options for Rebuild Index Task:
   
   
   
   • Databases: printqueue, Uluro, UluroWeb3
     
     
     
   • Schedule: Sunday at 12:00:00 AM
     
     
     
7. Default options for Update Statistics Task:
   
   
   
   • Databases: printqueue, Uluro, UluroWeb3
     
     
     
   • Schedule: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday at 12:00:00 AM
     
     
     
8. Default options for History Cleanup Task:
   • Weeks to keep historical data: 4 Weeks
     
     
     
   • Schedule: Sunday at 10:00:00 PM
     
     
     
9. Default options for Back Up Database (Full) Task:
   
   
   
   • General >> Databases: printqueue, Uluro, UluroWeb3
     
     
     
   • General >> Schedule: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday at 12:00:00 AM
     
     
     
   • Destination >> Folder: Set destination folder where backups will be stored
     
     
     
10. Use the default reporting options.
    
    
    
11. Complete the Wizard.
    
    
    
12. Should complete without any errors.
    
    
    
13. (Optional)
    Double-click Uluro Database Maintenance Plan and then give the 4 sub-plans a more descriptive name to assist future maintenance.
    • Before:
      
      
      
    • After (Save the changes when done):