Specifying the Database System Name

When you configure an instance of Notification Services, you must specify which instance of the SQL Server Database Engine stores instance and application data.

Instance and Application Metadata Storage

Each instance of Notification Services has instance metadata and subscriber data. Each application has application metadata, and event, subscription, and notification data. Notification Services stores this data in one or more SQL Server databases, and stores some information about Notification Services instances in the msdb database.

Specifying the Database System

When you configure an instance of Notification Services, you provide a SQL Server instance name. This value specifies which instance of the Database Engine will host the instance and application data. When you create the instance, Notification Services creates or updates databases on the specified instance of the Database Engine, and then updates the msdb database.

Whether the Database Engine is located on the local server or a remote server, you must specify the SQL Server instance name, such as DBServer01\inst2, not an IP address or aliases such as . and localsystem.

High-availability configurations sometimes have databases on a failover cluster. If your databases are on a failover cluster, use the SQL Server virtual server name for the database system name.

If your instance of the Database Engine is on a remote server and you do not want to use port 1433 for connections to the database, you can specify the port number using the following format: tcp:computerName,portNumber\instanceName.

To define the database system

If you are configuring an instance of Notification Services through XML, specify the database system name in the instance configuration file (ICF). For more information, see SqlServerSystem Element (ICF)

If you are configuring an instance of Notification Services programmatically, connect to the instance of SQL Server that will host the instance of Notification Services. For more information, see Connecting to an Instance of SQL Server.

See Also

Concepts

Specifying the Instance Name
Defining the Instance Database
Associating Applications with an Instance
Defining Custom Delivery Protocols
Defining Delivery Channels
Configuring Argument Encryption
Specifying the Instance Version and History
Using Parameters in an Instance Configuration File
Hardware Configurations

Other Resources

Configuring Instances of Notification Services
SqlServerSystem Element (ICF)
Instance Configuration File Templates

Help and Information

Getting SQL Server 2005 Assistance