SQL Server already automates many administrative tasks, such as updating index statistics, but you can automate other regular tasks, such as backups and data import and export, by defining jobs to run at certain times or based on certain conditions. The SQL Server 7.0 Administration (70-028) online exam guide includes defining jobs in its list of automated administrative topics, along with defining alerts and operators, which I discussed in the May 2000 issue. In this article, I show you how to automate tasks based on a time schedule, but you can also activate a job or sequence of jobs based on an alert condition.