UNDER THE WOODS:
Alert works with four tables;
Event Cache
Event Log
Immed Subscription
Sched Subscription
Subscription Tables: These are needed for the type of Alert, i.e. if it is immediate or scheduled. Entries are made here accordingly when it is made in the Event Cache table.
Event Cache: This is to have the entries made for the alert collectively.
Events are added in the event Data Column and the ACL Column, once an alert is requested. Either these fields are NULL/ Not NULL. If NULL, we need to find an entry at the Event log Table.
Event Log:
This holds the entry of the Sched Subscription events. It gets it copied from the Event cache table. Remember only Scheduled.
Last, but not the lease is the Timer Service:
Someone should be there to drive all the above tasks. Engine cannot run without a driver accelerating it. This guy is the driver for the exact above process to be initialized and run successfully. This supervisor is very important. So check this guys presence, else the whole process will not work at all.
Just have this knowledge and lets now proceed with Troubleshooting Alert;
ISSUE ISOLATION OUTLINE:
Web application Level
Alert switch check
Database Check
Entry in the Subscription Table
Timer Job Definitions
Security Check
Synchronize the credentials
File-mon – To check if the timer service picks up the alert
Verbose Logs – To check for message “Alert has been sent”
Check Event Cache table for the processing of the alert (NULL/Not NULL)
Last step is reviewing the File Mon logs
NOTE: Run the file-mon from the step 7 through 8 and from 9 through 10.
EXPLAINED:
Create a new web application to check if the Alert works there.
If Answer==yes
{
Detach and attach the content DB from the old web application to the new one
}
If Answer==No
{
Go To Step 2
Enable and disable the Alert functionality:
Open the command prompt and go to the 12\Bin folder. Run this command and see whether alerts are enabled for the web application.
Command: Stsadm.exe-o getproperty -url http://problemsite -pn alerts-enabled
The expected output is
Else
{
Run the following command to change the value.
Command: stsadm.exe -o setproperty -pn alerts-enabled -pv "true" -url http://problemsite
}
If the property is Yes and still the alerts are not sent, toggle the property from Yes to NO and then from No to Yes. This may delete all the existing alerts.
Check if the Alert requested is making an entry in the Subscription Table
Note: Since this is an Email Alert and since this is IMMEDIATE, an entry is made in the Immed Subscription table. So now we need to check this table for the successful entry
{
Command: stsadm.exe -o getproperty -url http://ProblemSite -pn job-immediate-alerts
Expected output:
Command: stsadm.exe -o setproperty -pn job-immediate-alerts -pv "every 5 minutes between 0 and 59" -url http://ProblemSite
}
Check if the Alert Job is running:
Confirm the above step through the UI. Central administration>> Operations>> Timer Job Definitions and ensure that a job named Immediate Alerts is present for the web application. This should work!!!
Configure Alert now on a list for a user by entering his/her email address.
If this works as expected, then take the same user using the people picker and check if it works.
Status:
If Answer == Yes
{Check with different user and confirm the resolution}
If Answer == No
{Go to the step 6}
To Check the Subscription table for a new alert record presence:
Check in the table if a new record is added to the email field
If not, check whether the email address is present in the user’s profile through the SSP admin page.
Security Check:
The new alert is not security trimmed. So when an alert is created, it sends an email to the user irrespective of the security. If this does not work check if the user or security group has the lowest read permission at least on the list.
Read permission is the basic requirement.
Synch the credentials:
The issue might also be with a password change which is not synchronized properly. Hence we would need to re-sync the password.
Refer: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/934838
9. Now we are going back to the Pavilion here;
Create a new Alert on a list for a user, check if the user gets the success mail
Upload a document
Begin running the file-mon and analyze the logs.
10. To check if the timer Service picks up the Alert Template:
Run file-mon on the MOSS server which is responsible for the timer service and check if the Timer service picks up the alert template during the whole process.
Also take a Verbose logs to check if there is a message “Alert has been sent”
Check the Event Cache Table for processing
Query: Select * from eventcache order by EventTime DESC
Need: To check if the latest log is the one corresponds to your uploaded document. Make sure the Event Data and ACL columns are not NULL.
After 5 or more minutes, check the Event-Cache table again to see if the Event-Data and ACL columns are NULLed.
If so, stop file-mon after the Event-Data and ACL columns are NULLed. Review log.
