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This article will teach you to use the MET/TEAM Email Alerting feature

This is a multi-step process so lets get started.

Verify the MET/TEAM reporting directories are active and correctly configured

Use this article to verify the MET/TEAM reporting directories are active and correctly configured:
Location of reports in MET/TEAM and Customer Portal

, you will first need to set it up. To start, You will also need to know the MET/TEAM reporting directories. A default installation of MET/TEAM has these locations for the Custom Reports and System Reports directories on the application server, respectively:

Gather your SMTP Server settings

Next you will need to gather your SMTP Server settings, which your IT group can provide.
Here is the values you will need:

  • Email Address – The email address to use in the “From” field for emails generated by the Alert Engine.
  • From Name – The “friendly” name associated with the email address used in the “From” field.
  • Global CC – (Optional) The email address to use in the “CC” field for emails generated by the Alert Engine.
  • Global BCC – (Optional) The email address to use in the “BCC” field for emails generated by the Alert Engine.
  • Email User Name – The user name for the account to use when connecting to the SMTP server.
  • Email Password – The password for the account to use when connecting to the SMTP server. Click the Change button to enter the password to use.
  • SMTP Host Name – The URL of the SMTP server that the Alert Engine should use to generate emails.
  • Port – The port number for the SMTP server.
  • Language – The two-letter language code that indicates what language the Alert Engine should use when generating reports.
  • Use SSL – Indicates whether the SMTP server requires using SSL.

Note that you can use any "From Address" and "From Name" that you wish, but if there is no inbox set up, then you will not be able to monitor any replies unless you specify your email in the "Global CC" or "Global BCC" settings.

PLEASE NOTE: The values for these System Defaults can only be provided by your IT team. Fluke Software Support DOES NOT know these details for your implementation, nor can we find it for you. 

     

    Configure your SMTP Server settings

    Once you have the required information, you need to enter it into MET/TEAM and depending on your version this is accomplished one of two ways:

    Alert configuration in version 3.3.0 and later using "Alert Engine Configuration" page

    1. Log into MET/TEAM as a user with administrator or configuration rights
    2. Click Configure-->Alert Engine Configuration
    3. Enter the necessary information using the help button  if additional info is needed.
    4. When finished, click [Save] button

    Alert configuration in version 3.2.0 and earlier using System Defaults

    1) Log into MET/TEAM as a user with administrator or configuration rights.

    2) Click Configure --> System Defaults

    3) Click "Show Inactive" and then in the "Property" search field, type "Alerts"

    4) Select the System Default you would like to edit, and click "OK".

    5) Activate and configure the following System Defaults with the correct values (definitions for them can be found within their respective notes fields).Alerts.Email.FromAddress

    • Alerts.Email.FromName
    • Alerts.Language
    • Alerts.Smtp.Host
    • Alerts.Smtp.Port
    • Alerts.UseSSL
    • Reports - Default Reports directory
    • Reports - Default System directory

     

     

    After configuring the settings, create a test alert to verify them

    1) Go to Setup --> Contacts and create a Contact record for yourself, if you do not have one already. Make sure the Email 1 field has a valid email address within it.

    2) Go to Reports --> Alerting Schedules, and click Add to create a new alert.

    3) In the New Schedule Alert screen, set up the fields like the below screenshot and save the record. The ActiveTypes.rpt is nice to use as a test report because it is relatively simple and small, requires zero parameters, and you only need at least one active type record in your database for it to generate successfully.

    4) After saving the alert, add yourself to the Contacts grid on the right.

    5) Add a schedule to the alert. Set the schedule's period to Daily, and the Hour/Minute to just a few minutes from the current time. For example, if it is currently noon, set the schedule to be 12:05.

    6) If everything is set up correctly, you should receive an email in your inbox shortly after the Next Run time that contains a report showing all of your active types!

     

     If you did not receive an email after 15 minutes past the Next Run time, then the email might have failed to send and you need to troubleshoot.

    • Firstly, refresh the Schedule Alert form. Has the Next Run incremented from today to tomorrow? If not, then the email alerting engine service did not process the alert, which may mean its connection string or permissions to the database is incorrect, or the service is not turned on.
    • Try running the ActiveTypes.rpt report by hand from the Custom Reports menu and see if it generates successfully with actual data. The alert engine does not mail out empty reports, so if the report is empty when ran manually, you probably have no type records in the database.
    • Verify the email address for the contact record you associated with the alert.
    • If the issue is still not resolved, check the alerting log file(s). The is located is dependent on the version of MET/TEAM. 
      In versions 3.0 and newer they are downloaded and included in the zip file created when you click Help-->About and then click the [Download Log Files] button.
      These file names are ""alerting-log_YYYYMMDD.log and one is created for each day the alerting engine runs.  These files come from the Application server, typically this folder:
      C:\ProgramData\Fluke\Logs\Alerting\

      On versions 2.3 and older of MET/TEAM, they are located on the application server under the %TEMP% directory for the application's user account. With a default installation, MET/TEAM's application user is Local Service, which means the file can be located at C:\Windows\Temp\alerting-log.txt. If you have changed its user from Local Service to some other account, you will have to check that account's %TEMP% directory.
    • See this article for additional troubleshooting information...  Advanced Troubleshooting of the Email Alerting Service