How do I troubleshoot a System DNS that is not writing to the database?

Article ID: 24
Category: Notifications
Created: 2005-01-11

I am trying to use the ODBC notification with a Microsoft SQL Server (MSSQL) and I have setup a system DSN. When I click the TEST button in the ODBC target of the management console it writes an entry into the database, but the agent does not write to the database.

This is usually due to an incorrectly configured System DSN. When configuring the DSN, make sure that the SQL Server authentication type is set to "With SQL Server authentication using a login ID and password entered by the user".

If set to "Windows NT authentication", the EventSentry agent will attempt to connect to the database using the security account of the machine (e.g. SERVER$) which generally does not have permissions.

If you do not wish to use SQL Server authentication then you can can reconfigure the EventSentry agent to use an account other than the LocalSystem account:

  • Navigate to Start - Settings - Control Panel - Administrative Tools
  • Open Services
  • Locate the "EventSentry" service and double-click it
  • Click the "Log On" tab
  • Change the account the service is running under there. Make sure that you specify an account that has both permissions on the database and administrative permissions on the computer.
  • Restart the service