agent mail / outlook 2003 catch 22

I've just installed and configured outlook 2003 with sql agent mail and I've come across a strange conundrum: messages from agent mail are not actually sent unless the outlook client is open, but the default mail folder is locked by agent when agent is started, thus preventing outlook 2003 from opening. If I try things the other way - opening the client and then configuring/restarting agent mail - then agent mail can't access the default mail folder because the client has it locked.

There doesn't seem to be any way to win here.

Anyone come across this issue and found a workaround?I don't have a solution for your specific problem. I use this:

http://sqldev.net/xp/xpsmtp.htm

which doesn't require an email client on the server at all. Perhaps it would work in your situation.|||Deleted duplicate post.|||If I recall correctly, you have to configure SQL Agent Mail using the Outlook 2000 Client.

Here are some links:

MS FAQ (http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;311231)
Common Problems (http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;315886)
Configuring SQL Mail (http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;263556)

Regards,

hmscott|||Thanks, guys. It appears that Outlook 2003 is not compatible with Agent Mail (though it's fine with SQL Mail).

For anyone else who runs into this problem, I've thrown together a stored procedure which, when scheduled into an hourly job, will email you when a job fails along with the cause of the failure. I'm sure I could have made this neater, but it works and that's all I need. An example of the error email message is as follows:

--Original Message--
From: sender@.mydomain.com
Sent: Tuesday, January 31, 2006 5:04 PM
To: me@.mydomain.com
Subject: Jobs failed in the last hour - Feb 01 2006 10:00AM

The jobs listed below failed in the last hour:

Job: testjob
Step: 1
Step Name: test
Date Failed: Feb 1 2006 9:31AM
Error: Executed as user: SERVERS\Administrator. Invalid object name 'zigglyzorp'. [SQLSTATE 42S02] (Error 208). The step failed.
--sp attached as txt file--