SQL Server comes with a large number of alerts and errors that on some systems are never configured.

SQL Agent Alerts should be configured for Severity levels 16 through 25 as these indicate very serious problems which require immediate attention.

Severity 16 - Miscellaneous User Error Severity 17 - Insufficient resources Severity 18 - Nonfatal Internal Error Severity 19 - Fatal Error in Resource Severity 20 - Fatal Error in Current Process Severity 21 - Fatal Error in Database Process Severity 22 - Fatal Error: Table Integrity Suspect Severity 23 - Fatal Error: Database Integrity Suspect Severity 24 - Fatal Error: Hardware Error Severity 25 - Fatal Error

Also error messages 823, 824 and 825 indicate that there is a problem with underlying storage system or the hardware or a driver that is in the path of the I/O request. You can encounter this error when there are inconsistencies in the file system or if the database file is damaged.

Once these are configured, operators can bet setup for notifications.