Prerequisites and configuration settings that are required to make the Notification Workflow Solution Accelerator fully functional with Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) 2005

The Notification Workflow Solution Accelerator is a Microsoft SQL Server Notification Services-based application. With the Notification Workflow application, a user can be notified when alerts that are associated with specific applications or with Microsoft Windows services are generated. This article describes prerequisites and configuration settings that are required to make the Notification Workflow Solution Accelerator fully functional with Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) 2005.

This article describes configuration requirements for the installation of the Notification Workflow Solution Accelerator. This article also describes how to forward notifications to another server.

If the Notification Workflow application is not fully configured or is incorrectly configured, you may receive the following message in the Application log. (The source of the message will be "NotificationWorkflow".)

Event ID 7301 - The e-mail address or SMTP server value is not valid.

There are some known issues with the Notification Workflow application that are documented in the Notification Workflow User Guide. To download the Notification Workflow application, visit the following Microsoft Web site:The Notification Workflow Installation Guide documents installation requirements. This guide and other Notification Workflow application guides are available when you download the application.

Prerequisites for installation

The Notification Workflow Solution Accelerator requires an SMTP server in order to send notifications. Therefore, install the Notification Workflow Solution Accelerator on an Exchange server. If an Exchange server is not available, you can install the application on a server that is running the Windows IIS SMTP service. In this scenario, you must configure IIS to forward notifications to an SMTP mail server such as an Exchange server. For more information about how to configure forwarding in IIS SMTP, see the "To forward notifications to another server" section.

You can also configure the IIS SMTP server to forward notifications to an external SMTP server. For information about how to configure the IIS SMTP service to work with an external server, visit the following Microsoft Web site: Before you install the Notification Workflow application, create a mailbox for the NS$NotificationWorkflow service account on the SMTP server that will send notifications. Enable the mailbox by signing in to it from an e-mail client program, such as Microsoft Outlook Web Access. For example, type http://Mail Server Name/Exchange to sign in. Use the service account credentials.

Verify that the service account's e-mail address can successfully send an e-mail message.

The Notification Workflow application depends on Microsoft SQL Server Notification services. You must install these services on the same computer. SQL Server XML is also required. When you install the Notification Workflow application, you specify an account context for the NS$NotificationWorkflow service. This account must have administrative credentials on the server where you install the notification services.

Note These requirements are in addition to the requirements that are listed in the Notification Workflow Solution Accelerator Installation Guide.

Information that you must enter during installation

After you meet installation prerequisites, run the Notification_Workflow.msi file to install the Notification Workflow application. During installation, you will be prompted to enter the following information about the NS$NotificationWorkflow service account:

• A domain and user name
• A password
• An e-mail address
• A polling interval that the NS$NotificationWorkflow service will use to determine how frequently to poll for new alerts in the MOM 2005 database.

Post-installation tasks

After you install the Notification Workflow application, you must configure the AppADF.xml and AppConfig.xml files. These files are located in the InstallationLocation\Notification Workflow\AppDefinition folder.

To configure the AppADF.xml and AppConfig.xml files, follow these steps:

1. Stop the NS$NotificationWorkflow service.
2. Open the AppADF.xml file by using a text editor.
3. Locate the <FieldName>From</FieldName> entry.
4. Make sure that the field value contains the e-mail address for the mailbox that corresponds to the NS$NotificationWorkflow service account.
   
   For example, the entry should look similar to the following.

   <FieldName>From</FieldName> 
     <SqlExpression>'NSAccount@testdom.com'</SqlExpression> 

   Note You must enclose the e-mail address in single quotation marks.
5. Save the file.
6. Open the AppConfig.xml file by using a text editor.
7. Locate the "<ProtocolName>SMTP</ProtocolName>" entry.
8. Add the following "Arguments" section after the entry.

   <Arguments>
            <Argument>
               <Name>SmtpServer</Name>
               <Value>EXCHSERVER</Value>
            </Argument>
            <Argument>
               <Name>BodyEncoding</Name>
               <Value>utf-8</Value>
            </Argument>
    </Arguments> 
   

   This value of utf-8 is an example. The actual value of this argument depends on the application needs and the NS settings that were used. By default, UTF-8 (ASCII) is the value that Notification Services uses. If UTF-16 (Unicode) is the setting of your Notification Services application, use that value instead. For more information, visit the following Web site:
   http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms145866.aspx (http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms145866.aspx)
   For more information about declaring the SMTP delivery channel, visit the following Microsoft Web site:
   http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms172547.aspx (http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms172547.aspx)
   For more information about the "Arguments" section, visit the following Microsoft Web site:
   http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa257700(SQL.80).aspx (http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa257700(SQL.80).aspx)
9. In the "Arguments" section, change "EXCHSERVER" to the name of your Exchange or SMTP server.
10. Save the file.
11. Restart the NS$NotificationWorkflow service.

After you modify these files, use the Notification Workflow User Guide to create subscribers, subscriber schedules, subscriber devices, and subscriptions.

To forward notifications to another server

Follow these steps to forward notifications to an Exchange server that is not located on the MOM 2005 server or on the Notification Workflow server:

1. Stop the NS$NotificationWorkflow service.
2. Set up a Default SMTP Virtual Server by using Microsoft Internet Information Service (IIS) on the MOM 2005 or on the Notification Services server. To do this, follow these steps.
   
   Note The following steps are based on an Internet Information Service (IIS) 6.0 installation in Microsoft Windows Server 2003.
   1. Click Start, click Run, type appwiz.cpl, and then click OK.
   2. In Add or Remove Programs, click Add/Remove Windows Components, and then click Internet Information Service (IIS) in the Components box.
   3. Double-click Internet Information Service (IIS), click SMTP Service in Subcomponents of Internet Information Services (IIS), and then click OK.
   4. Click Next to complete the SMTP service installation.
3. Re-configure the AppConfig.xml file so that it contains the name of the local SMTP server, the MOM 2005 server, or the Notification Workflow server.
   
   For example, replace the "SMTPSERVER" value in the following text with the name of the server.
   

   <Arguments>
            <Argument>
               <Name>SmtpServer</Name>
               <Value>SMTPSERVER</Value>
            </Argument>
            <Argument>
               <Name>BodyEncoding</Name>
               <Value>utf-8</Value>
            </Argument>
    </Arguments> 
   

   For more information about declaring the SMTP delivery channel, visit the following Microsoft Web site:
   http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms172547.aspx (http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms172547.aspx)
4. Open Internet Information Service (IIS) Manager in Administrative Tools, right-click Default SMTP Virtual Server, and then click Properties.
5. To configure SMTP properties, follow these steps:
   1. On the General tab, leave [All Unassigned] in the IP address list. You may click to select the Enable logging check box.
   2. On the Access tab, click Authentication, click to select the Integrated Windows Authentication check box, and then click to clear the Anonymous access check box.
   3. Click Connection, and then verify that this configuration is set to All except the list below and that the list is empty.
   4. Click Relay, and then verify the following settings:
      • The default settings are configured to Only the list below.
      • The list is empty.
      • The Allow all computers which successfully authenticate to relay, regardless of the list above check box is selected.
   5. On the Messages tab, leave the default settings.
   6. On the Delivery tab, click the Outbound Security tab. Click Integrated Windows Authentication, and then type the name of the account that you are using for the NS$NotificationWorkflow service.
   7. Click Advanced. In the Fully-qualified domain name field, type the fully qualified domain name.
      
      Note If you have to, prefix the local computer name with the fully qualified domain name.
   8. In the Smart host field, type the name of the Exchange server that will receive e-mail messages. The two check boxes in this dialog box should not be selected.
   9. On the LDAP Routing tab, click to select the Enable LDAP routing box. Type the name of a domain controller in the Server field. Leave Schema and Binding as the default selections for Active Directory and Anonymous respectively.
   10. On the Security tab, leave the default settings.
   11. In the Default SMTP Virtual Server Properties dialog box, click OK to apply the changes.
6. Double-click Default SMTP Virtual Server, and then click Domains to verify that the fully qualified domain name of the local computer and the domain are displayed in the right pane.
7. Right-click the computer name under Internet Information Services, click All Tasks, click Restart IIS, and then click Restart Internet Services on Domain Name in the What do you want IIS to do? list.
8. Restart the NS$NotificationWorkflow service.
9. Wait for the alerts that are included in the subscription to be generated and for the notification polling interval to pass.
10. Verify that the notification workflow e-mail messages are being sent.

For more information about SQL Server Notification Services, visit the following Microsoft Web site: