Windows Service or SQL Job?

Question

I have an archiving process that basically deletes archived records after a set number of days. Is it better to write a scheduled SQL job or a windows service to accomplish the

Answer 1

To follow on Corey's point, if this is externally distributed, will you need to support SQL Express? If not, I'd go with the SQL job directly. Otherwise, you'll have to get more creative as SQL Express does not have the SQL Agent that comes with the full versions of SQL 2005 (as well as MSDE). Without the SQL Agent, you'll need another way to automatically fire the job. It could be a windows service, a scheduled task (calling a .NET app, powershell script, VBscript, etc.), or you could try to implement some trigger in SQL Server directly.