SqlAnswersMail is a powerful component that was designed to be compatible with xp_sendmail -- the interface and functionality are almost identical with a few minor exceptions:

 

1. The interface for SqlAnswersMail does not support the @type parameter since this parameter only applies to MAPI
2. SqlAnswersMail does not return text Mail Sent; instead it returns a one-row, one column resultset that has one of three values Mail Sent, Mail Queued, or Queue Processed depending on the call.

 

Since SqlAnswersMail implements 99% of functionality of xp_sendmail, it’s possible to replace xp_sendmail with SqlAnswersMail in a way that’s completely transparent to existing SQL code; thus you can start using all the new features of SqlAnswersMail without modifying your existing SQL code.

 

This process has been tested on SQL Server 2000 only. Substitution of sp_sendSAM for xp_sendmail on SQL Server 2005 is currently not supported.

 

XP_Sendmail is an extended stored procedure provided by Microsoft as part of Microsoft SQL Server. While substituting XP_Sendmail with SqlAnswersMail worked in all scenarios tested in our lab, we cannot guarantee that this substitution will not cause unforeseen problems in your environment; therefore we recommend that you test this substitution thoroughly in your development environment before implementing it in production.   

 

Here are the steps for making the substitution

 

1. Install SqlAnswersMail on the server. Make sure to install sp_sendSAM in the master database of your server. For more information see Configuration Guide.
2. Run the script sp_sendSAMWrapper.txt
3. Save the results of the script in a permanent location since you may have to use the rollback script
4. Test the solution by running the following SQL (you need to substitute info@domain.com with your email)
   
         exec master..xp_sendmail
                 @recipients='info@domain.com',
                 @subject='Email from SqlAnswersMail via xp_sendmail'

 

If you run into any problems after the switch, you can always execute the rollback script you saved in step #3 in the master database of your server to rollback to the original configuration.