How are Alert Rules helpful to you?

SQL Enterprise Job Manager allows you to create your own specific alert rules based on your requirements for specific jobs, tasks, instances, jobs duration, etc., and assign them your preferred severity.

For example, you can create a new alert rule that informs you when Job A in instance B is taking more time than what is expected.

SQL Enterprise Job Manager lets you define these alert rules so that you can get notified of the most relevant issues of your environment. 

Adding new Alert Rules

To add a new alert rule, click Add Alert Rule on the top bar menu. SQL Enterprise Job Manager opens a wizard for configuring new alert rules with two tabs: General and Configuration.

What fields are available on the General tab?

The General tab allows you to specify the general settings of your alert rule. You can find the following fields:

• Name - Type a name that helps you identify your alert rule
• Enabled - Select this option if you want to enable the alert as soon as it is created. You can add alert rules first and enable them later.
• Severity type - Choose your desired severity for the alert rule. Choose from CRITICAL, WARNING, INFORMATIONAL, or OK. 
• Alert type -  Select the type of alert rule you are creating. It could be an alert rule for instances, jobs, or tasks. 
• Description  - Type a description that helps you identify the alert rule and describes its main characteristics.

What fields are available on the Configuration tab?

The Configuration tab allows you to define the main parameters of your alert rule; in other words, what conditions have to meet in order to generate an alert.

Depending on the type of alert that you choose, the options on the Configuration tab vary.

If you choose a Job type Alert Rule, then you have the following options: 

• Property - Select those properties you want the alert rule to take into account for generating alerts. You can choose to have alerts according to the Job name, Instance, Owner, Category, Duration, or Last Run Outcome.  
• Type - For your selected properties, choose if you want to INCLUDE or EXCLUDE a defined value. 
• Value - Specify a value for each selected Property. This value determines when your alert rule is generated. For example, you can specify to generate an alert rule whenever the job Duration property is between a time range of 10 and 20 minutes. For the values consider that:
  • If you choose properties such as Job name, Instance, Owner, or Category, you can use wildcard characters such as %, _,  [ ], [^]. Avoid using these characters in names or SQL Enterprise Job Manager can take them for wildcard characters. 
  • If you select the Duration property, set the values manually or use the sliders to specify the time range that your jobs have to meet or the time range that SQL Enterprise Job Manager has to exclude to trigger the alert rule. 
  • If you select the Last Run Outcome property, use the drop-down options to select from Failed, Successful, Retry, Canceled, In Progress, or Unknown.

For one alert rule, you can select several properties and define their respective parameters. For example, you can create an alert rule where the job name excludes all "backup" references (using the % character as a wildcard), where the job duration is between 1 and 2 hours, and the job last run outcome is failed.   

If you choose an Instance type Alert Rule,  then you have the following options:   

• Property - Select those properties you want the alert rule to take into account for generating alerts. You can choose to have alerts according to the Instance, Status, Agent Status, Owner, or Location.  
• Type - For your selected properties, choose if you want to INCLUDE or EXCLUDE a defined value. 
• Value - Specify a value for each selected Property. This value determines when your alert rule is generated. For the values take into account:
  • If you choose the Instance property, you can use wildcard characters such as %, _,  [ ], [^]. Avoid using these characters in names or SQL Enterprise Job Manager can take them for wildcard characters. 
  • If you select the Status property, use the drop-down options to select from Unknown, Online, Connection Failure, Unsupported SQL Server Version, Authentication Failure, or Error.
  • If you select the Agent Status property, use the drop-down options to select from Running, Stopped, Stopping, Starting, or Unknown.
  • If you select the Owner property, specify the domain/username, remote "Where the instance is running".
  • If you select the Location property, use the drop-down option to select the instance location.

If you choose a Task type Alert Rule,  then you have the following options:   

• Property - Select those properties you want the alert rule to take into account for generating alerts. You can choose to have alerts according to the Task Name, Server Name, Task Author, Task Action, or Status.
• Type  - For your selected properties, choose if you want to INCLUDE or EXCLUDE a defined value. 
• Value - Specify a value for each selected Property. This value determines when your alert rule is generated. For the values take into account:
  • If you choose the Task Name property, you can use wildcard characters such as %, _,  [ ], [^]. Avoid using these characters in names or SQL Enterprise Job Manager can take them for wildcard characters. 
  • If you select the Server Name property, type the name of the respective server. 
  • If you choose the Task Author property, type the name of the respective author.
  • If you choose the Task Action property, then you can select tasks that Start a program, Send an e-mail, or Display a message. 
  • If you select the Status property, use the drop-down options to select from Unknown, Disabled, Ready, Running, WaitingForChildrenToComplete, RanToCompletion, Canceled, Faulted, or Scheduled.  

How do you edit alert rules?

You can edit your own created alert rules as well as the established default alert rules (SQL Server instance connection failures, SQL Server Agent not running, and Job Failures).

To edit alert rules, select the alert rule you want to change and click Edit Alert Rule on the top bar menu. You can also find this option in the gear icon options of the respective alert rule. 

For more information on what actions you can execute on alert rules, go to Performing actions on alert rules.