Operators

Operators are the accounts that will receive notification when an event occurs, such as the completion of a job or the firing of an alert. Operators are configured from the Operators folder under SQL Server Agent in Enterprise Manager. To create a new operator, right-click the Operators folder and select New Operator. To manage an existing operator, double-click the operator in the Details pane. This will bring up the Properties dialog box for the operator, as shown in Figure 18.4.

Figure 18.4. The Operator Properties dialog box.

From the General tab of the operator properties, you specify a name for the operator and a method of contact. This can be any combination of e-mail, pager e-mail, and Net Send address. Each of the contact methods includes a Test button that sends a test message via the corresponding contact method. If a pager address is supplied, the pager schedule is enabled, allowing you to specify the times that the operator is available to be paged.

The Notifications tab shows for which jobs and alerts the operator is currently receiving notifications. You can disable the operator, send him an e-mail listing the jobs and alerts for which he is receiving notification, send him his pager schedule, and also alert him to a summary of notifications he has received. Figure 18.5 shows the Notifications tab.

Figure 18.5. The Operator Notifications tab.