SQL maintenance plan versus Ola scripts intro
Overview
Maintenance Plans Wizard works for simple shops; Ola Hallengren scripts scale integrity, index, and statistics with better logging and throughput tuning.
Plans
Easy GUI; harder to standardize across many instances; logging to text files can sprawl.
Ola
Parameterize Databases, Fragmentation thresholds, LogToTable—great for multi-tenant MSP template repos.
Must-do either way
CHECKDB frequency risk-based (weekly small, monthly big); copy-only backups do not break chains—communicate to backup team.
Monitoring
SQL Agent job history alerts; duration baselines—sudden 10× longer hints storage trouble incoming.
Licensing
Enterprise features (compression) vs Standard—script options must match edition legality.
Handoff
Runbook names exact job schedule and who adjusts when Black Friday freeze starts.
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