Introducing SQL Server Notification Services
Microsoft SQL Server Notification Services is a platform for developing and deploying applications that generate and send notifications to subscribers. The notifications generated are personalized, timely messages that can be sent to a wide range of devices, and that reflect the preferences of the subscriber.
Subscribers create subscriptions to notification applications. A subscription is an expressed interest in a specific type of event. For example, subscriptions might express the following preferences: "Notify me when my stock price reaches $70.00," or "Notify me when the strategy document my team is writing is updated."
A notification can be generated and sent to the subscriber as soon as a triggering event occurs. A notification can also be generated and sent on a predetermined schedule specified by the subscriber.
Notifications can be sent to a wide range of devices. For example, a notification can be sent to a subscriber's cellular phone, personal digital assistant (PDA), Microsoft Windows Messenger, or e-mail account. Because these devices often accompany the subscriber, notifications are ideal for sending important information.
Notification applications are valuable for many reasons, including the following:
- Notification applications enable you to send critical information to customers, partners, and employees. The notifications can contain links to a Web site to retrieve more information or to acknowledge receipt of the information.
- Notification applications enhance and strengthen your relationships with customers by providing more customized and timely services to them.
- Notification applications help increase your revenue by making it easier for customers to initiate business transactions with you.
- Notification applications help make your employees more productive by providing them with the information they need, whenever and wherever they need it.
- Notification applications allow you to communicate with mobile subscribers over a wide variety of devices.
With Notification Services you can build and deploy applications quickly, and scale the applications to support millions of subscribers if desired. Notification Services consists of:
- A simple yet powerful Notification Services programming framework that enables you to quickly create and deploy notification applications. You can develop applications using XML or Notification Services Management Objects (NMO).
- A reliable, high-performance, scalable engine that runs notification applications. The Notification Services engine is built on the Microsoft .NET Framework and SQL Server 2005.
In This Section
| Topic | Description |
|---|---|
Explains what Notification Services is, how it operates, and what benefits it provides. |
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Provides application scenarios that illustrate how you can use Notification Services. |
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Describes the architecture behind collecting events and subscriptions, generating notifications, and formatting and distributing those notifications. |
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Provides an overview of the Notification Services application development process. |
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Explains how Notification Services applications are deployed and administered. |
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Notification Services Security, Reliability, Scalability, and Availability |
Explains how Notification Services helps promote security, and provides reliability, scalability, and availability for notification applications. |
Describes how Notification Services can integrate with other technologies. |
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Lists the SQL Server 2005 editions and describes Notification Services functionality in those editions. |
See Also
Other Resources
Notification Services Enhancements
Building Notification Solutions
Deploying Notification Services
Administering Notification Services