
The Notification Services Engine
Earlier in this tutorial, you configured a generator and a distributor for the application. These components are run by the Notification Services engine. If the application had used a hosted event provider, that event provider also would be run by the Notification Services engine.
The Notification Services engine is either a Windows service that you create when you register the instance on a computer, or a process hosted by a custom application.
When you configure hosted event providers, generators, and distributors in the application definition file (ADF), you specify a system name, which is the computer where that component runs. You must install and run the Notification Services engine on each computer specified by the system name values in the ADF.
When you start the Notification Services engine, it connects to the instance and application databases to determine what components it runs and if those components are enabled. The engine then runs its enabled components.
For more information about the Notification Services engine, see Controlling Instance and Application Operation.
The Notification Services engine connects to the instance and application databases and runs its stored procedures. To run these stored procedures, the engine must have login access to the server and the correct database permissions. These permissions are granted to the login through membership in database roles in the instance and application databases. For more information, see Configuring SQL Server Permissions for an Instance of Notification Services.