How to Disable AutoTask in Oracle

Sometimes you may want to stop Oracle’s AutoTask jobs temporarily — for example, to troubleshoot performance issues or avoid conflicts with important batch jobs. Instead of only changing maintenance window timings, you can completely disable AutoTask using DBMS_AUTO_TASK_ADMIN.DISABLE.

Here’s a clear, practical step-by-step guide to do it safely.

Check Current AutoTask Status

First, check which AutoTask clients are currently enabled:

column client_name format a35;
column status format a10;
select client_name, status from dba_autotask_client;

A typical result looks like this:

CLIENT_NAME                         STATUS
----------------------------------- ----------
sql tuning advisor                  ENABLED
auto optimizer stats collection     ENABLED
auto space advisor                  ENABLED

Generate Disable Statements

To disable all enabled AutoTask jobs, generate the required PL/SQL commands automatically:

set linesize 100;
column stmt format a90;
select 'exec dbms_auto_task_admin.disable(''' || CLIENT_NAME || ''', null, null);' stmt 
from dba_autotask_client 
where status = 'ENABLED';

This will output statements like:

exec dbms_auto_task_admin.disable('auto space advisor', null, null);
exec dbms_auto_task_admin.disable('auto optimizer stats collection', null, null);
exec dbms_auto_task_admin.disable('sql tuning advisor', null, null);

Execute the Disable Commands

Run each statement individually to disable the jobs:

exec dbms_auto_task_admin.disable('auto space advisor', null, null);
exec dbms_auto_task_admin.disable('auto optimizer stats collection', null, null);
exec dbms_auto_task_admin.disable('sql tuning advisor', null, null);

You should see:
PL/SQL procedure successfully completed.

Verify That AutoTask Is Disabled

Finally, check again to confirm:

select client_name, status from dba_autotask_client;

You should see:

CLIENT_NAME                         STATUS
----------------------------------- ----------
sql tuning advisor                  DISABLED
auto optimizer stats collection     DISABLED
auto space advisor                  DISABLED

Tip: To enable them again, just replace DISABLE with ENABLE:

exec dbms_auto_task_admin.enable('auto space advisor', null, null);
exec dbms_auto_task_admin.enable('auto optimizer stats collection', null, null);
exec dbms_auto_task_admin.enable('sql tuning advisor', null, null);

That’s it!
You now know how to disable AutoTask in Oracle quickly and safely.