Allow a SQL Server job to run for specific time before killing it

SQL Server 2016 Standard Ed

We have a clean up job that runs some pretty simple sql:

use productionDB
go

delete from transactionaltable where 
createdat < DATEADD(day, -21, GETDATE()) 
go

This runs every weeknight, and has been great.... until last night, when an (apparent) lock escalation or conflicting jobs caused it to hang, locking the table and causing all kinds of mess.

I thought to myself: "Hey, there must be some some magic I can put on the job or on the step, a property like 'kill if running for more than ten minutes'" But I can find no such.

Is the only technique to:

• Fire the real job at 0100

• Fire a kill job at 0110 // a safety that rarely gets a hit

The kill job to be built with this technique:

USE msdb ;
GO
EXEC dbo.sp_stop_job N'Your Job Name' ;
GO

Or is there a better/cleaner way to do this?

SOLUTION

Stop using that crude WHERE statement and start deleting rows in small batches, using a method like that described here.

I have been using the following stored proc on a SQL agent job:

```
-- =============================================
-- Author: Devin Knight and Jorge Segarra
-- Create date: 7/6/2012
-- Description: Monitors currently running SQL Agent jobs and
-- alerts admins if runtime passes set threshold
--
-- =============================================

/*
Change log:
=============================================
7/11/2012 (v 1.01)
Changed Method for capturing currently running jobs to use master.dbo.xp_sqlagent_enum_jobs 1, ''

7/12/2012 (v 1.03)
Updated code to deal with “phantom” jobs that weren’t really running.
Improved logic to handle this. Beware, uses undocumented stored procedure xp_sqlagent_enum_jobs

7/24/2012 (v. 1.16)
Removed need to specify mail profile
Fix for error sending notify email
Added commented line for testing purposes (avg+1 minute for short tests)
=============================================
exec usp_LongRunningJobs
*/
ALTER PROCEDURE [dbo].[usp_LongRunningJobs]
@jobname nvarchar(100)
AS

--Set limit in minutes (applies to all jobs)
--NOTE: Percentage limit is applied to all jobs where average runtime greater than 5 minutes
--else the time limit is simply average + 10 minutes
DECLARE @JobLimitPercentage FLOAT

SET @JobLimitPercentage = 150 --Use whole percentages greater than 100

-- Create intermediate work tables for currently running jobs
DECLARE @currently_running_jobs TABLE
(
job_id UNIQUEIDENTIFIER NOT NULL ,
last_run_date INT NOT NULL ,
last_run_time INT NOT NULL ,
next_run_date INT NOT NULL ,
next_run_time INT NOT NULL ,
next_run_schedule_id INT NOT NULL ,
requested_to_run INT NOT NULL ,-- BOOL
request_source INT NOT NULL ,
request_source_id SYSNAME COLLATE database_default
NULL ,
running INT NOT NULL ,-- BOOL
current_step INT NOT NULL ,
current_retry_attempt INT NOT NULL ,
job_state INT NOT NULL
) -- 0 = Not idle or suspended, 1 = Executing, 2 = Waiting For Thread, 3 = Between Retries, 4 = Idle, 5 = Suspended, [6 = WaitingForStepToFinish], 7 = PerformingCompletionActions

--Capture Jobs currently working
INSERT INTO @currently_running_jobs
EXECUTE master.dbo.xp_sqlagent_enum_jobs 1, ''

--Temp table exists check

CREATE TABLE ##LRJobsStage
(
[JobID] [UNIQUEIDENTIFIER] NOT NULL ,
[JobName] [sysname] NOT NULL ,
[StartExecutionDate] [DATETIME] NOT NULL ,
[AvgDurationMin] [INT] NULL ,
[DurationLimit] [INT] NULL ,
[CurrentDuration] [INT] NULL
)

INSERT INTO ##LRJobsStage
( JobID ,
JobName ,
StartExecutionDate ,
AvgDurationMin ,
DurationLimit ,
CurrentDuration
)
SELECT jobs.Job_ID AS JobID ,
jobs.NAME AS JobName ,
act.start_execution_date AS StartExecutionDate ,
AVG(FLOOR(run_duration / 100)) AS AvgDurationMin ,
CASE
--If job average less than 5 minutes then limit is avg+10 minutes
WHEN AVG(FLOOR(run_duration / 100)) <= 5
THEN ( AVG(FLOOR(run_duration / 100)) ) + 10
--If job average greater than 5 minutes then limit is avg*limit percentage
ELSE ( AVG(FLOOR(run_duration / 100))
* ( @JobLimitPercentage / 100 ) )
END AS DurationLimit ,
DATEDIFF(MI, act.start_execution_date, GETDATE()) AS [CurrentDuration]
FROM @currently_running_jobs crj
INNER JOIN msdb..sysjobs AS jobs ON crj.job_id = jobs.job_id
INNER JOIN msdb..sysjobactivity AS act ON act.job_id = crj.job_id
AND act.stop_execution_date IS NULL
AND act.start_execution_date IS NOT NULL
INNER JOIN msdb..sysjobhistory AS hist ON hist.job_id = crj.job_id
AND hist.step_id = 0
WHERE crj.job_state = 1
and jobs.NAME=@jobname
GROUP BY jobs.job_ID ,
jobs.NAME ,
act.start_execution_date ,
DATEDIFF(MI, act.start_execution_date, GETDATE())
HAVING CASE WHEN AVG(FLOOR(run_duration / 100)) <= 5
THEN (AVG(FLOOR(run_duration / 100))) + 10
--THEN ( AVG(FLOOR(run_duration / 100)) ) + 1 --Uncomment/Use for testing purposes only
ELSE ( AVG(FLOOR(run_duration /

StackExchange Database Administrators Q#184633, answer score: 3