Hi, sql2005 I used the Maintenance Plan wizard to set up a daily backup plan
to run after hours. So I now have a plan and sql server agent job; both
created by the wizard.

I right-click the job and select 'Start job at step...' and an error is
triggered. The log file viewer has the following message.

Unable to start execution of step 1 (reason: line(1): Syntax error). The
step failed.

I then selected the maintenance plan and modify to view the t-sql. This I
copied into a new query window and was able to execute successfully!

However, I notice that there is a disclaimer at the bottom of the 'view
t-sql' popup that says... the t-sql shown here may not necessarily be the
exact t-sql executed at the server due to any conditional logic you
configured for this task.
- a red herring maybe?

My questions is how do I resolve this error?

Any ideas or suggestions appreciated :-)

Many thanks,
Jonathan

Copy the command from the job step and paste it into the query editor and
run it there. That should give you a much better error message.

--
Andrew J. Kelly SQL MVP
Solid Quality Mentors


"Jonathan" <Jonathan (AT) discussions (DOT) microsoft.com> wrote

"Andrew J. Kelly" wrote:

Hi Andrew,

I think this is the command...

/SQL "Maintenance Plans\BackupAllDbs" /SERVER "ML350SERVER\DEVELOPMENT"
/MAXCONCURRENT " -1 " /CHECKPOINTING OFF /SET
"\Package\Subplan_1.Disable";false /REPORTING E

and is running as local systems account.

Jonathan

OK I should have realized that would not do any good by itself as it is a
ssis package execution and that won't run as is. The syntax error is most
likely in this command not the pseudo ones the wizard generated. I would
delete the plan and try again. If that doesn't work there are tons of
examples of how to write your own tsql backup jobs that won't have the
issues associated with SSIS and maintenance plans in general.

--
Andrew J. Kelly SQL MVP
Solid Quality Mentors


"Jonathan" <Jonathan (AT) discussions (DOT) microsoft.com> wrote

With that kind of error - it is most likely caused by a mismatch between the
client tools and the server. I have seen this kind of error occur when the
maintenance plan is created on a pre-SP2 client and connecting to a SP2 or
greater system.

I find that a lot of people don't ever bother to upgrade the client on the
desktop - but the server has been patched to the latest version. It
definitely causes a lot of problems.

"Andrew J. Kelly" <sqlmvpnooospam (AT) shadhawk (DOT) com> wrote