Responding to Events

Microsoft® SQL Server™ events are written to the Microsoft Windows® application log. You can define an alert on one or more events to specify how SQL Server Agent should respond.

SQL Server Agent monitors the Windows application log for SQL Server events. When events that you have defined for action occur, SQL Server Agent responds automatically according to your specifications. For example, if an event of severity 17 occurs, you can specify that an operator be notified immediately.

Automated event response is called alerting. When an event occurs, SQL Server Agent compares the event details against the alerts defined by the SQL Server administrator. If it finds a match, SQL Server Agent performs the defined response.

You can define alerts to:

• Notify operators.
  
  
• Execute a job.
  
  
• Forward the event to the Windows application log on another server.