Having alerts send e-mails conundrum

  • I am currently working on setting up alerts based on certain errors to send emails immediately.

    For testing purposes now, I am monitoring the following error:

    14265: The MSSQLServer service terminated unexpectedly

    I first ran exec sp_altermessage 14265, 'WITH_LOG', 'true', then created my alert to look for that error number. In the response tab, I have it running a job that sends out an email alert via xp_sendmail (not using SQL Mail for now).

    However, when I type: raiserror(14265, 25, 127) WITH LOG, the error is raised and written to the log file. But I get this result:

    Server: Msg 14265, Level 25, State 127, Line 1

    The MSSQLServer service terminated unexpectedly.

    Connection Broken

    Any reasons why the job is not going out? When I run the email job on it's own, it works.

    Thanks.

    Gaby A.

    Gaby________________________________________________________________"In theory, theory and practice are the same. In practice, they are not." - Albert Einstein

  • Assuming SQL 2000, you must already have SQL Mail set up anyway ... you also have to initiate the SQL Mail session first using xp_startmail, and terminate the session afterwards with xp_stopmail.

    In this case, you might as well just set up SQL Agent Mail and send the email directly from the response action to the alert. The main advantage of using xp_sendmail is that the content can be generated dynamically using a query.

    Unfortunately, SQL Agent Mail requires the installation of parts of Outlook on the server and it needs an Exchange (or other MAPI-compliant) server to talk to. I assume the unpopularity of this solution is why Microsoft decided to move to the SMTP-compatible Database Mail in SQL 2005 and later.

  • John Reid (1/27/2009)


    Assuming SQL 2000, you must already have SQL Mail set up anyway ... you also have to initiate the SQL Mail session first using xp_startmail, and terminate the session afterwards with xp_stopmail.

    In this case, you might as well just set up SQL Agent Mail and send the email directly from the response action to the alert. The main advantage of using xp_sendmail is that the content can be generated dynamically using a query.

    Unfortunately, SQL Agent Mail requires the installation of parts of Outlook on the server and it needs an Exchange (or other MAPI-compliant) server to talk to. I assume the unpopularity of this solution is why Microsoft decided to move to the SMTP-compatible Database Mail in SQL 2005 and later.

    Thanks for the advice and it has helped, definitely. I'm trying a more benign message, 17162: SQL Server is starting at priority class '%1'(%2!d! %3 detected), that is generated when the server restarts.

    When I run a raiserror(17162, 10, 127) from query analyzer, the alert triggers the job which sends the e-mail. But when I shutdown and restart the server, the custom alert doesn't seem to be triggered, even though the 'SQL Server is starting...' message shows up in the log.

    Gaby________________________________________________________________"In theory, theory and practice are the same. In practice, they are not." - Albert Einstein

  • Is it possible that the Agent hasn't yet started at that point?

  • John Reid (1/27/2009)


    Is it possible that the Agent hasn't yet started at that point?

    Hmmm, I was wondering that. Now I'm hunting for a way to trap the last step that occurs in the errorlog when the Agent starts: Using 'xpsqlbot.dll' version '2000.80.2039' to execute extended stored procedure 'xp_qv'. If I trap this, then I'll have been able to catch a server restart and the appropriate DBA on duty could get paged immediately.

    Gaby________________________________________________________________"In theory, theory and practice are the same. In practice, they are not." - Albert Einstein

  • If your objective is only to send an email alert when SQL starts, and assuming you also have SQL Server Agent set to start automatically, you could set up a job with a schedule of "Start automatically when SQL Server Agent starts" and use the normal SQL Mail to send the notification "Whenever the job completes".

  • John Reid (1/28/2009)


    If your objective is only to send an email alert when SQL starts, and assuming you also have SQL Server Agent set to start automatically, you could set up a job with a schedule of "Start automatically when SQL Server Agent starts" and use the normal SQL Mail to send the notification "Whenever the job completes".

    You know, I should have thought about that. I could tie it in with sp_readerrorlog for example and have the email send out whether it was a normal restart or an unscheduled one.

    Thanks.

    Gaby________________________________________________________________"In theory, theory and practice are the same. In practice, they are not." - Albert Einstein

  • I merely stand on the shoulders of giants: 🙂

    Auto notification for failover of a server and restart of SQL Server services

    That describes a solution for SLQ2K5 but the principle is the same ... the job could be anything as long as the notification gets triggered.

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