Defining Operators

The primary attributes of an operator are name and contact information. It is recommended that you define operators before you define alerts. You must set up one or more of the following in order to notify an operator:

• For e-mail, a MAPI-1-compliant e-mail client.

  SQL Server Agent requires a valid mail profile in order to send e-mail. Examples of MAPI-1 clients include Microsoft® Outlook® and Microsoft Exchange client.

• For paging, third-party pager-to-e-mail software and/or hardware.

  You need these to use the pager notification features.

• To use net send notifications, you must be running the Microsoft Windows NT® 4.0 or Windows® 2000 operating system.

Naming an Operator

Every operator must have a name. Operator names must be unique and can be no longer than 128 characters.

Providing Contact Information

An operator's contact information defines how the operator is notified. Operators can be notified by e-mail, pager, or net send:

• E-mail Notification

  SQL Server Agent establishes its own mail session using the mail profile information supplied in the SQL Agent Properties dialog box.

• Pager Notification

  Paging is implemented using e-mail. To set up pager notification, you must install on the mail server software that processes inbound mail and converts it to a pager message. The software can take one of several approaches, including:

  • Forwarding the mail to a remote mail server at the pager provider's site.

    The pager provider must offer this service, although the software required is generally available as part of the local mail system. For more information, see the pager documentation.

  • Routing the mail by way of the Internet to a mail server at the pager provider's site.

    This is a variation on the first approach.

  • Processing the inbound mail and dial using an attached modem.

    This software is proprietary to pager service providers. The software acts as a mail client that periodically processes its inbox either by interpreting all or part of the e-mail address information as a pager number, or by matching the e-mail name to a pager number in a translation table.

If all of the operators share a pager provider, you can use SQL Server Enterprise Manager to specify any special e-mail formatting required by the pager-to-e-mail system. The special formatting can be a prefix or a suffix:

• Subject line
  
  
• Cc line
  
  
• To line

  Note  If you are using a low-capacity alphanumeric paging system (for example, limited to 64 characters per page), you can shorten the text sent by excluding the error text from the pager notification.

• net send

  The net send notification method specifies the recipient (computer or user) of a network message. This method is not supported on the Windows 98 operating system.

Designating a Fail-Safe Operator

The fail-safe operator is notified about an alert after all pager notifications to the designated operators have failed. For example, if you have defined three operators for pager notifications and none of the designated operators can be paged, the fail-safe operator is notified.

The fail-safe operator is notified when:

• The operator(s) responsible for the alert could not be paged.

  Reasons for this include incorrect pager addresses and off-duty operators.

• SQL Server Agent cannot access system tables in the msdb database.

  The sysnotifications system table specifies operator responsibilities for alerts.

Because the fail-safe operator is a safety feature, you cannot delete the operator assigned to fail-safe duty without reassigning fail-safe duty to another operator or deleting the fail-safe assignment.

To create an operator