BUG: SQL Server Agent Job with E-Mail Notification Option Stops Responding When Microsoft Exchange Server is Not Available (328197)
The information in this article applies to:
- Microsoft SQL Server 2000 (all editions)
This article was previously published under Q328197 SQL Server 8.0:361293 SYMPTOMSWhen you run a SQL Server Agent job, the job may not respond
if all the following conditions are true:
- The job is configured to send an e-mail notification when
it completes.
- The SQL Server Agent mail profile is configured to use
Microsoft Exchange Server, and the Microsoft Outlook Address Book
service.
- The Outlook Address Book service references the Outlook
Contacts folder.
- The computer that is running Exchange Server is not
available.
When the computer that is running Exchange Server is not
available, a SQL Server Agent job that is configured to send an e-mail
notification by using that computer may stop responding. If you verify the job
history of the SQL Server Agent job, you may see that the job steps completed
successfully, but the job remained active with a status of "Performing
completion actions." This status indicates that the job is trying to send the
e-mail notification. Even if the computer that is running Exchange
Server is available later, the affected job may not respond. At the next
scheduled time, the affected job still has a status of "Performing completion
actions." Also, the affected job may not run until you restart the SQL Server
Agent service. CAUSE The SQL Server Agent mail connectivity is handled by a
single mail interface thread. All the SQL Server Agent job uses this mail
interface thread for is e-mail communication. Each SQL Server Agent job waits
without any timeout limit until the mail command of the job returns from the
mail interface thread. If the mail interface thread stops responding because of
some external reason, the dependent job keeps waiting infinitely.
The
problem that is mentioned in the "Symptoms" section occurs because the mail
interface thread stops responding while it is trying to resolve the mail
recipient names through the Microsoft Outlook Address Book.WORKAROUNDTo work around this problem, perform one of the following
tasks:
- Remove the reference to the Contacts folder from the
Microsoft Outlook Address Book service in the SQL Server Agent mail
profile.
- Remove the complete Microsoft Outlook Address Book service
from the SQL Server Agent mail profile.
If any one of these tasks is performed, the mail interface
thread detects if the Microsoft Exchange Server is unavailable. The SQL Server
Agent job that is configured to send an e-mail notification when it finishes,
completes the job after approximately two minutes of wait time for sending the
e-mail notification. The job will not fail or stop responding if there is a
failure in sending e-mail notification. STATUSMicrosoft
has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed
in the "Applies to" section of this article.
| Modification Type: | Major | Last Reviewed: | 4/6/2004 |
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| Keywords: | kbStack kbSQLServMail kbService kbServer kbbug kbpending KB328197 kbAudDeveloper |
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