I hate the maintenance CleanUp task :=)

I have a backup database task that runs at 4 am.

I added a maintenance CleanUp task pointing to the right folder
I checked the include first-level subfolder box, and delete files based on the age of the file at task run time

I specified "delete files older than " 1 day

But the cleanup task is not working, I have to manually go a delete the files myself.

Am I missing something? should I run the maintenance task first?
and then the backup task?

make sure that your system is upgraded to SP2 and also you have installed SSIS.

Refer these links for more info

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx/kb/933508

http://blogs.msdn.com/sqlrem/

Madhu

|||Also you make sure to apply SP2 for the client tools as they also willbe updated with bug fixes.|||

I'm having this problem, too. I have a Maintenance Cleanup Task to remove old maintenance plan text reports that seems to "refuse" to delete the old files. The system I'm trying this on has had the GDR 3054 update applied to all components, including the clients. I've even recreated the entire maintenance plan new, and it still doesn't work. The interesting thing is that my Cleanup Task that removes old backup files is working correctly!

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This has been confirmed as a bug

See http://support.microsoft.com/kb/936305

Maybe by SQL Server 2008 SP2 the Maintenace Plans may have got back to being usable and reliable

Regards

Nadreck

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This is not a solution or an answer to what Armando is asking.

What he says (and what Nadreck and I am experiencing) is the complete refusal of the maintenance cleanup task to delete the files...at *any* time.

Your links, as well as the other replies to this topic refer to a bug where existing maintenance tasks, created before SP2 being applied, are mis-timed after SP2 is applied. In my situation, the maintenance plan was created after SP2 was applied.

By not being able to automate the cleanup of the older backup files, it makes the entire backup task (as a scheduled process) nearly worthless.

Jeff

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Ok, after doing a lot of searching around the net I found out a workaround (sort of).

To get the maintenance plan to actually delete files in the first level subfolders, change the extension for it to delete (in the maintenance cleanup task dialoge) to *.*

I know this isn't ideal if you store files other than your backups in some of these folders (or rename old backups a different extension to always keep them around), but it did work for me. You just need to be careful what is put in those folders.

Jeff

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