Alert problems

[bnymk]

Hello all:

We have a site developed using SharePoint Portal with SQL 2000 as a back end database. The site is currently up and running and we have users' account that is stored in an AD that is running on a different box but all two boxes are in the same domain. Everything works except for the alerts. Namely, I have set up the SMTP and everytime when a user gets added to the portal site, he/she gets notifed via email that they are added to the site and to access the site using the link provided in their email body. But once they log in and click on the "Alert me" link from any of the web areas, after they get the "Add Area Alert" page and click on "Ok" button, they get the following error.
"Your alert cannot be created at this time. The server administrator should verify that search services are running on an available index server."
I know I must have to activate sth but don't know what. Can anyone please point me to the right direction on how to solve this problem.

Thanks in advance.

"Behind every great fortune there lies a great crime", Honore De Balzac

 

[Thomas2000]

Hello,

Have you made sure that the SharePoint Timer Service is up and running? The timer service is the service that handles the alerts (sending email) notifications.

If you go to the SharePoint Central Administration, check the Configure Server Topology and make sure that you have an INDEX server up and running and that you do not have any issues (problems) listed on that page.

Regards,
Thomas

 

[bnymk]

Thomas:

Thanks for responding to my question.

So far I have made sure that SharePoint Timer Service is up and running and in the SharePoint Central Administration page, under Server Topology, Component Assignments section, the "web", "search", "Index" and "Job" are active and have a blue dot underneath each column to indicate that they are running. The only problem that I see on that page is a warning saying that "No default global e-mail server settings have been specified" under Problems with this configuration section. But I already have added the IP address of or mail server for the portal to use and the e-mail server is listed under "Database Server Settings" and it also sends an email when I add users to the sharepoint portal site.

Any ideas???

Thanks.

"Behind every great fortune there lies a great crime", Honore De Balzac

 

[Thomas2000]

Hello,

Just to make sure I did not missunderstood you. You did enter the IP-address for your SMTP server under Global E-mail Server settings? Did you there also specify the from and reply-to address?

Have you tried using a DNS (or hostname) for the email server instead of an IP-address?

Regards,
Thomas

 

[bnymk]

Thomas:

Yes, I did enter the IP address for the SMTP server under global e-mail server settings. I have also tried using the DNS for the mail server but the result is the same. The only thing that I didn't specify is values in the from and reply-to address. But it is sending an email to users without those field being populated when I add users to the sharepoint portal site. It only fails when users are clicking on "my alert" link.

"Behind every great fortune there lies a great crime", Honore De Balzac

 

[Thomas2000]

Hi,

Sure is a strange problem! Try and see if it makes a difference if you fill in the from and reply-to fields. Have you checked your logfiles?

Regards,
Thomas

 

[bnymk]

Thomas:

I have tried that adding values in the reply-to and from field as well but I'm still getting the same problem. I really appreciate all your responses though. As strange as this problem sounds, there has to be a way of fixing this.

"Behind every great fortune there lies a great crime", Honore De Balzac

 

[Thomas2000]

Hello,

Have you had any progress in this matter?
If not have you checked under site settings, manage alert settings and see that you do not have any mails in queue there and also that under Default E-Mail Address for Alert is mapped correcttly. Are the users listed in the User profile list? if not make sure they are.

Regards,
Thomas

 

[bnymk]

Thomas:

I have checked all the things that you have mentioned on your previous post and everything is checked. I'm thinking of installing the whole SPS on a different machine and see if it will fix the problem. But before I do that, is there any services that needs to be also running for the alert to work besides what I have already enabled and running?

Thanks.

"Behind every great fortune there lies a great crime", Honore De Balzac

 

[Thomas2000]

Hello,

Well the following SharePoint specific services should be running (but I guess you already have the started and running):

SharePoint Portal Administration
SharePoint Portal Alert
SharePoint Timer Service

I run all the above with the admin account I have created for SharePoint when I did the installation. The user is a member of the following groups on the server:

IIS_WPG
SPS_Query
SPS_WPG
STS_WPG

Regards,
Thomas