CODEWITHSUNDEEP
sql-serveragent
Alan Nunes
Alan Nunes

Reputation: 323

What does Agent XPs Server do?

I would like to know what does Agent XPs Server do? I mean, what happens if I enable it and disabled it?

I have found some content on the internet talking about this but I still don't get it. What type of risks of security do I run if I enable it?

I read the documentation about it on https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/database-engine/configure-windows/agent-xps-server-configuration-option?view=sql-server-2017 but it's still vague.

Upvotes: 0

Views: 2473

Answers (1)

RThomas
RThomas

Reputation: 10880

Microsoft SQL Server Agent is a Windows service that acts as a job scheduling tool within SQL Server. For SQL Server Agent to manage jobs, schedules, rights etc it interacts through the SQL Engine using a number of extended stored procedures. These are known as the Agent XPs.

In order to enable SQL Server Agent you must enable Agent XPs through the surface area configuration of SQL Server. When installing SQL Server, if you setup the SQL Agent these will automatically be enabled so often these are enabled by default.

So, while Agent XPs refer to the collection of stored procedures as documented here. In practice people usually refer to Agent XPs as either being enabled meaning SQL Server Agent is configured and able to run versus disabled meaning the Agent feature is turned off and cannot be ran.

Upvotes: 3

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