SQL Agent Job: Determine how long it has been running

Question

The Scenario

There are certain SQL Agent Jobs that are scheduled to run every few minutes throughout the day.

There are legitimate times when it

Answer 1

This solution would work:

SELECT DATEDIFF(SECOND,aj.start_execution_date,GetDate()) AS Seconds
FROM msdb..sysjobactivity aj
JOIN msdb..sysjobs sj on sj.job_id = aj.job_id
WHERE aj.stop_execution_date IS NULL -- job hasn't stopped running
AND aj.start_execution_date IS NOT NULL -- job is currently running
AND sj.name = 'JobX'
and not exists( -- make sure this is the most recent run
    select 1
    from msdb..sysjobactivity new
    where new.job_id = aj.job_id
    and new.start_execution_date > aj.start_execution_date
)

This a more general check dependent on system tables. If you'd prefer a custom route, you could have the job insert into a job log table you created instead.