Email alert notifications are failing. Configure notifications

SteveHindle

I'm seeing this error in SQL Monitor:

Email alert notifications are failing. Configure notifications

Sending a test email works so I assume I have an alert setup incorrectly. Is there an easy way to find which one it is (we have a lot of servers)? Which log file would this error appear in?

Dan_J

Hi @SteveHindle

Thanks for reaching out to us on this!

We have had a few customers mention the issue you are describing to us over the last few weeks, as a result we have a bug (ref.SRP-13743) open that is currently being worked on.

Essentially, there is an issue with customized alerts set to us an alternative email address where there is no email address provided (see below example). There are no email validation in place for this scenario.

If you navigate to and open the AlertConfiguration.csv file within the \Localhost\RepositoryInformation folder, you will be able to work out which of your alerts are impacted by this.  Details regarding the meaning of the columns within this .csv file are as follows:

The Level and Name1-Name3 are the level of the hierarchy where the alert is customized. The Root Level is the "All servers" level.  The Cluster level has Name1 as the top level server or cluster name.  Name 2 is the name of the SQL instance on that server/cluster. Where there is a value of 2 within the AlertNotification column this indicates that the option to use an alternative email address has been selected, there should then be an email address in the EmailAddress column.  A TRUE or FALSE within the Enabled column dictates whether the alert is enabled (TRUE) or disabled (FALSE).

Please let me know if you need any further help with this.

SteveHindle

Thanks for the response - I think the issue was more around the format of the email address and when we have multiple adresses. For example, do we use a colon or semi-colon to separate multiple addresses (the app seems to convert it to a comma in the database regardless) and if there are spaces in a distribution group name for example (such as !Me And You@123.com.au) do you surround it with < >? Is it OK to have the ! in the address or is it better to use the alias from Outlook?

Dan_J

Hi @SteveHindle

Thanks for your response on this!

When using multiple email addresses, they should be separated by comma's, for example: a@domain.com, b@domain.com

Regarding spaces in a distribution group, I wasn't aware it was possible to include spaces in mailbox addresses?   And I think it is best to use the Outlook alias.