When many alerts occur at the same time, Notification Workflow Solution Accelerator version 2.1 does not send notifications in Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM) 2005.

Additionally, the following error message is logged in the Application log:

This problem occurs because the Microsoft SQL Server event provider (spNWEventsQuery) takes a long time to run. This situation is determined by the following factors:

• The number of alerts that come to the system
• The hierarchy of the management packs that are defined in the MOM OnePoint database
• The hierarchy of the computer groups that are defined in the OnePoint database

This situation causes a time-out error in Notification Workflow Solution Accelerator version 2.1. Therefore, Notification Workflow Solution Accelerator does not send notifications.

Hotfix information

A supported hotfix is available from Microsoft. However, this hotfix is intended to correct only the problem that is described in this article. Apply this hotfix only to systems that are experiencing this specific problem.

If the hotfix is available for download, there is a "Hotfix download available" section at the top of this Knowledge Base article. If this section does not appear, submit a request to Microsoft Customer Service and Support to obtain the hotfix.

Note If additional issues occur or if any troubleshooting is required, you might have to create a separate service request. The usual support costs will apply to additional support questions and issues that do not qualify for this specific hotfix. For a complete list of Microsoft Customer Service and Support telephone numbers or to create a separate service request, visit the following Microsoft Web site: Note The "Hotfix download available" form displays the languages for which the hotfix is available. If you do not see your language, it is because a hotfix is not available for that language.

Important notes about this hotfix

• This hotfix works only when the MOM database and Notification Workflow Solution Accelerator are deployed on the same computer. If this is not the case, do not apply this hotfix.
• This hotfix applies only to Notification Workflow Solution Accelerator version 2.1. If version 2.0 is installed, you must upgrade to version 2.1 before you apply the hotfix.
  
  To determine which version of Notification Workflow Solution Accelerator is installed, check the time stamp of the Microsoft Installer (MSI) file that you used to install the current version of Notification Workflow Solution Accelerator. If the time stamp is older than "March 29, 2005 12:00 AM," upgrade to Notification Workflow Solution Accelerator version 2.1.
• Before you apply the hotfix that is described in this article, you must apply another hotfix that addresses a table error and missing notifications. To obtain the hotfix, visit the following Microsoft Web site:
  http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=8D25C80D-C978-4B23-825A-7AE7B4775B0F&displaylang=en (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=8D25C80D-C978-4B23-825A-7AE7B4775B0F&displaylang=en)
• Before you apply the hotfix that is described in this article, you must back up the following Notification Workflow databases:
  • NotificationWorkflowNSMain
  • NotificationWorkflowNotificationWorkflowApp

How to apply this hotfix

1. Run the Notification Workflow Hotfix for Transaction Rate Timeout.msi file.
2. Stop the NS$NotificationWorkflow service. To do this, run the following command at a command prompt:
   net stop NS$NotificationWorkflow
3. Run the NWTimeout-TableCreation.sql script. This script is in the folder in which you installed the hotfix.
4. Run the NWTimeout-SPCreation.sql script. This script is in the folder in which you installed the hotfix.
5. Run the spPopulatetmpCG stored procedure on the NotificationWorkflowNotificationWorkflowApp database. This step may take a while, depending on the number of computers that are detected by the OnePoint database.
6. Run the spPopulatetmpMP stored procedure on the NotificationWorkflowNotificationWorkflowApp database. This step may take a while, depending on the number of rules that are saved in the OnePoint database.
7. Start the NS$NotificationWorkflow service. To do this, run the following command at a command prompt:
   net start NS$NotificationWorkflow

How to maintain this hotfix

In steps 5 and 6 of the "How to apply this hotfix" section, you ran stored procedures. These stored procedures populate the tables that store the following associations:

• The associations between computers and computer groups
• The associations between rules and management packs

You must periodically run these stored procedures against the tables, depending on the frequency of the database changes. You can manually run the store procedures. Or, you can create a batch file or a Data Transformation Services (DTS) package to automatically run the stored procedures. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Paste the following text to Notepad.

   use NotificationWorkflowNotificationWorkflowApp
   Go
   exec spPopulatetmpCG
   Go
   exec spPopulatetmpMP
   Go

2. Save the file into a SQL Server script file. Use NWTimeout.sql as the file name.
3. Create a batch file that contains the following text.

   net stop NS$NotificationWorkflow
   isql.exe -E -S <SQLServer\Instance> -U <Username> -P <Password> -i NWTimeout.sql
   net start NS$NotificationWorkflow
   

   Note Replace SQLServer\Instance with the full name of an instance of SQL Server. Replace Username with the user name. Replace Password with the corresponding password. You can omit the user name and the password if they are not required in the SQL Server configuration.
4. Run the batch file periodically.

Post-installation information

If the hotfix that you applied does not work, follow these steps:

1. Back up the following Notification Workflow databases:
   • NotificationWorkflowNSMain
   • NotificationWorkflowNotificationWorkflowApp
2. Uninstall Notification Workflow Solution Accelerator.
3. Manually delete the databases that you backed up in step 1.
4. Restore the databases from the backup that you created in step 1.
5. Reinstall Notification Workflow Solution Accelerator. During the installation process, select the option to keep the application database.
6. Reapply the hotfix that resolves a table error and the missing notifications. To obtain the hotfix, visit the following Microsoft Web site:
   http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=8D25C80D-C978-4B23-825A-7AE7B4775B0F&displaylang=en (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=8D25C80D-C978-4B23-825A-7AE7B4775B0F&displaylang=en)

Prerequisites

To apply this hotfix, you must have Notification Workflow Solution Accelerator version 2.1 installed on the computer.

Restart requirement

You do not have to restart the computer after you apply this hotfix.

Hotfix replacement information

This hotfix does not replace any other hotfixes.

File information

The English version of this hotfix has the file attributes (or later file attributes) that are listed in the following table. The dates and times for these files are listed in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). When you view the file information, it is converted to local time. To find the difference between UTC and local time, use the Time Zone tab in the Date and Time item in Control Panel.

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the "Applies to" section.

The SQL Server event provider uses nested cursors to generate the management pack names and the chained computer groups for each alert. This process may take a long time, depending on the number of computer groups and management packs that are defined in MOM 2005. The following table lists the processing statistics that were collected on a laboratory server before this hotfix was applied.This hotfix improves the performance of Notification Workflow Solution Accelerator. However, this hotfix does not resolve the problem completely. After you apply this hotfix, Notification Workflow Solution Accelerator can process more alerts in a specified time. The following table lists the processing statistics that were collected on the same laboratory server after this hotfix was installed.For more information about software update terminology, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: