Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Notification Services is a platform for developing and deploying applications that generate and send notifications. You can use Notification Services to generate and send timely, personalized messages to thousands or millions of subscribers, and can deliver the messages to a wide variety of devices.

How does SQL Server notification service work? Subscribers create subscriptions to notification applications. A subscription is an expressed interest in a specific type of event such as: "Notify me when a particular job fails" or "Notify me when a certain inventory item reaches a certain level".

A notification can be generated and sent to the subscriber as soon as a triggering event occurs. A notification can also be generated and sent on a predetermined schedule specified by the subscriber.

SQL Server notifications can be sent to a wide range of devices like a subscriber's cell phone, pda, Microsoft Windows Messenger, or e-mail account thus making those notifications are ideal for sending important information.

Integration of SQL Server Notification Services with Other SQL Server Components

Notification Services stores data in SQL Server databases and uses the SQL Server Database Engine to generate notifications. Deep integration between Notification Services and the Database Engine provides scalable and reliable operation. You can also retrieve event data databases or send notifications to the Database Engine. Because retrieving event data from databases is very common, Notification Services has a built-in SQL Server event provider. This event provider is hosted by the Notification Services engine, and runs on the schedule you provide in the application definition.

Notification Services can receive event data from Analysis Services databases. Using the built-in Analysis Services event provider, you can write MDX queries that retrieve data from an Analysis Services database and submit the data to an application event class.

Furthermore, SQL Server Notification Services provides several mechanisms for capturing events from external processes and applications. Notification Services includes a standard event provider that capture data XML files dropped to an operating system folder. Notification Services can send notifications using several delivery protocols. Notification Services includes a Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), and also includes a protocol for delivering notifications to a file, which is primarily intended for testing new application.

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