SQL Server Policy Support Mail Profile

  • We've been having trouble getting email notifications to work properly on our new 2019 servers. I could send emails from T-SQL job steps, the Database Mail under Management had all our profiles and accounts set up properly, and under the SQL Server Agent Properties -> Alert System, enable mail profile was checked and all the information was filled in. It was only after several months of beating my head against the wall that I realized I didn't recognize the profile listed in that setting. "SQL Server Policy Support Mail Profile".

    Oddly, that profile is not available under Management for me to alter or update. I had to switch the profile in Alert System properties to our homemade one before notifications started working.

    Does anyone know what this thing is? What it does? How to set it up so that email notifications work?

    I think it's a default setting, but it doesn't make sense for a default setting claiming to be a mail profile to work but not completely work and for us to not have access to set up what mail server it needs to use. Any thoughts anyone has would be greatly appreciated.

    Brandie Tarvin, MCITP Database AdministratorLiveJournal Blog: http://brandietarvin.livejournal.com/[/url]On LinkedIn!, Google+, and Twitter.Freelance Writer: ShadowrunLatchkeys: Nevermore, Latchkeys: The Bootleg War, and Latchkeys: Roscoes in the Night are now available on Nook and Kindle.

  • As far as I know, every time I set up a new instance, I re-setup the mail profile.  I currently use the GUI for it as I lost my mail setup scripts and have been meaning to recreate them.  But essentially, SQL needs to know what mail server to talk to, what port to talk to it on, what profile to use when sending mail, and all the security stuff associated with it.  SSMS has a nice GUI for setting it up though and it is pretty quick to do.

    I don't know how SQL could have any "default" settings for mail since everyone's mail server would be different.  Yours is not going to be the same as mine.

    Maybe I'm misunderstanding your gripe, but if you set up the mail properly, you can assign a default profile.  If you only have 1 profile, it can be the default profile, but doesn't have to be.  You can have no default profile assigned.  If I remember right, creating a new profile does NOT by default assign it to be the default profile.  That is something you need to set manually.  BUT that may be different in SQL 2019, I am just going off of memory from SQL 2012.  It has been a long time since I set up a mail profile, hence why I don't have my scripts laying around anymore.

    The above is all just my opinion on what you should do. 
    As with all advice you find on a random internet forum - you shouldn't blindly follow it.  Always test on a test server to see if there is negative side effects before making changes to live!
    I recommend you NEVER run "random code" you found online on any system you care about UNLESS you understand and can verify the code OR you don't care if the code trashes your system.

  • After looking at this more carefully, I realized I was looking at accounts not profiles. When I look at the profiles, I think these were something set up by the corporate people who put our servers together.

    I need to go back and talk to them about this since it's screwing with our notifications.

    Brandie Tarvin, MCITP Database AdministratorLiveJournal Blog: http://brandietarvin.livejournal.com/[/url]On LinkedIn!, Google+, and Twitter.Freelance Writer: ShadowrunLatchkeys: Nevermore, Latchkeys: The Bootleg War, and Latchkeys: Roscoes in the Night are now available on Nook and Kindle.

  • My opinion - Profiles (and all other database mail configuration stuff) should be handled by the DBA, not by "corporate people".  Heck, the SQL Server install should be done by the DBA too to ensure that all of the proper settings are in place.  But even if the "corporate people" installed the SQL Instance, the DBA should have gone in and double-checked the config and set up backups and database mail (if required) on the system prior to it being used for production.

    My opinion - user management, which I would put database mail profiles under, should fall under the DBA role.

    The above is all just my opinion on what you should do. 
    As with all advice you find on a random internet forum - you shouldn't blindly follow it.  Always test on a test server to see if there is negative side effects before making changes to live!
    I recommend you NEVER run "random code" you found online on any system you care about UNLESS you understand and can verify the code OR you don't care if the code trashes your system.

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