Why Notification Services?

Hello.

I've been looking for an enterprise-wide event publishing/subscription
solution for our internal Windows network that is similar to COM+ events.
I've posted questions in the "platformsdk.base" forum asking how this is
accomplished these days within the Windows platform - and got no response.

Is Notification Services the answer? And why is Microsoft bundling it with
SQL Server?

Maybe I should re-communicate my need: Our infrstructure consists of Win2000
server (soon to be Win2003), Active Directory, Exchange Server 2003, SQL
Server 2000, Outlook on all workstations and Win2000 Professional (minimum)
on all workstations. I want to develop our intranet so that users do not
have to remember to go and look for information. Rather I want to notify
pertinent users when there is information available that they need to know
about, and I want to make use of the features of Windows platform as much as
possible, thereby avoiding writing "plumbing" code..

In short, I want to send notifications from a server-hosted process to the
users when something happens, yet I don't want to just send them an email.
Rather I would rather have an application, that I develop, and that runs on
each users' machine to receive these notifications and perhaps flash an icon
in the task tray - or something like this. The problem for me to date is the
event infrastructure. If COM+ events had a broader scope than just the local
machine I would use it. But it doesn't.

So, is Notification Services the answer? What other Microsoft "technologies"
offer the same functionality, if any?

Thanks in advance,

Mike

Mike -

In general SQL Server notification services is designed to much of what
you're describing. It's designed to recognize events from the outside
world and communicate their occurrence to subscribers - which is
basically what you described.

For your scenario there are, of course, some challenges that you will
need to address in your design.

First, how will SQLNS recognize an event? Are your events driven by
changes to a SQL Server database? Can they be produced, or at least
reproduced, as an XML document? You can, of course, develop your own
custom event provider to to recognize and create events within SQL
Server notification services.

Second, consider your subscribers. They will either need to sign up
directly with the application, or since you are and a very controlled
environment you may be able to import the users from the AD using ADSI.

Third, your delivery must be considered. It sounds like
very interactive desktop application that will recognize win
notifications have been generated. This is probably a custom delivery
channel to you will need to create using the .net framework. At its
simplest, this could be an application that runs on the desktop and
polls periodically for notifications for the subscriber. You can of
course extend this if you prefer. Or consider instant messaging.

If you haven't already done so, download notification services from the
Microsoft web site and go through the walk-through in books online.
Then take a look at the realtor example.

I hope this helps...
Joe Webb


Mike Lopez wrote:

 > Hello.
 >
 > I've been looking for an enterprise-wide event publishing/subscription
 > solution for our internal Windows network that is similar to COM+ events.
 > I've posted questions in the "platformsdk.base" forum asking how this is
 > accomplished these days within the Windows platform - and got no response.
 >
 > Is Notification Services the answer? And why is Microsoft bundling it with
 > SQL Server?
 >
 > Maybe I should re-communicate my need: Our infrstructure consists of Win2000
 > server (soon to be Win2003), Active Directory, Exchange Server 2003, SQL
 > Server 2000, Outlook on all workstations and Win2000 Professional (minimum)
 > on all workstations. I want to develop our intranet so that users do not
 > have to remember to go and look for information. Rather I want to notify
 > pertinent users when there is information available that they need to know
 > about, and I want to make use of the features of Windows platform as much as
 > possible, thereby avoiding writing "plumbing" code..
 >
 > In short, I want to send notifications from a server-hosted process to the
 > users when something happens, yet I don't want to just send them an email.
 > Rather I would rather have an application, that I develop, and that runs on
 > each users' machine to receive these notifications and perhaps flash an icon
 > in the task tray - or something like this. The problem for me to date is the
 > event infrastructure. If COM+ events had a broader scope than just the local
 > machine I would use it. But it doesn't.
 >
 > So, is Notification Services the answer? What other Microsoft "technologies"
 > offer the same functionality, if any?
 >
 > Thanks in advance,
 >
 > Mike
 >
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