e-mail Alerts lost when internet is down

[BruceH]

I have 3 BI systems, on one of them I had a recent internet outage that lasted about 6 hours, during that time there were a number of alerts generated that failed to send due to the mail server not being accessible due to the internet outage, I was surprised that emails were completely lost and that BI did not queue them up for sending when the internet service was restored. Is this what is supposed to happen or is there a setting that I need to change? Is it possible to have the emails sent via a local email program that would allow the unsent messages to be queued in an outbox? I did a quick scan of the help file and did not see anything that might help.

[IAmATeaf]

As far as I know, the alerts happen in real time so no queuing etc.

Perfect question to ask BI support, if there is such current function they may well include it as a new feature in future updates.

[BruceH]

Thanks, I will ask support!

[Ferguson]

One simple answer for people who are a little technically savy is spin up a HyperV VM (you can do that in Windows 10/11 pro) and install linux (e.g. Ubuntu) and postfix. Postfix is a store-and-forward email server, just have it do exactly that with no real processing. It will hold email alerts and forward if the internet is down. If you have lots of applications sending email this also allows you to have postfix do the hoop-jumping to connect to your email provider in one place, and all your other applications can just dump email into it unauthenticated (assuming your LAN is by its nature safe).

Again... not as nice as "queue messages if down" perhaps but not that hard, and has some up side.

[BruceH]

thank you, I will take a look at using postfix and see if I can get it working, not much experience using Linux but I like a challenge!

[PaulDaisy]

One simple answer for people who are a little technically savy is spin up a HyperV VM (you can do that in Windows 10/11 pro) and install linux (e.g. Ubuntu) and postfix. Postfix is a store-and-forward email server, just have it do exactly that with no real processing. It will hold email alerts and forward if the internet is down. If you have lots of applications sending email this also allows you to have postfix do the hoop-jumping to connect to your email provider in one place, and all your other applications can just dump email into it unauthenticated (assuming your LAN is by its nature safe).

Again... not as nice as "queue messages if down" perhaps but not that hard, and has some up side.

Thank you for this suggestion. I have not needed this yet but have been thinking how would I do it if I wanted to. Same logic applies to a UPS that may want to send a notification, but if the power is down, the ISP might be down too, so queueing the email in Postfix to wait for the ISP to get back online is a good idea. And in my case I don't need a VM since I have two headless Ubuntu mini PCs that are on at all times.
BTW, I think that having a physical $20 Ubuntu computer sitting on a copper line in the corner somewhere next to your distribution switch is a really convenient way to handle all kinds of low-demand, odd needs.
Thanks!

[Ferguson]

Yeah, I have a couple of rPi's running ubuntu (or I think rasperidian in one case) for special purposes, like being a zwave controller. It is very handy, and unless you have really huge files (like emailing video and a lot of it) they have more than adequate performance, even the older ones, like a 3B which are dirt cheap, and not power hungry. There's even a POE hat for them (though i haven't tried it) which can power them from ethernet.