All good stuff. I do agree that OLE Automation has a bad reputation through frequent improper use and is also relatively slow when used for things like returning directory information when compared to many other methods. Of course, I don't use OA for those types of things. I also understand that you have to live within the confines of what a company will actually allow.

I cannot personally speak as to whether or not Database Mail is a PITA to setup on clusters because, like you, I wasn't the one that set it up on the clustered servers that I'm working on. I can only go by what those that set it up say. I still have a deep dive to do to determine if what they say is true or not. I trust them and I trust you and there's a conflict between what all of you say. For me, the jury is still out until I can find the time to find out for myself. With any luck at all, maybe I can teach "them" a thing or two.

Shifting gears, you said you had problems "years ago" with CDOSys Mail. Was it actually CDOSys or was it its predecessor (the name eludes me just now but the name still started with "CDO"). I'm wonder if maybe CDOSys fixed some of the problems its predecessor may have had.

Thanks for the link on setting up Database Mail to use a remote mail server. That'll make it a whole lot easier to do experiments with from home.

Shifting gears again, I've never had to install CDOSys (or its predecessor) separately. Its always been installed as a part of SQL Server.

Last but not least, I very much appreciate and agree with the fact that a lot of functionality defaults to being turned off to "improve" security. But, and I think you agree, I also think that's because of the incredible misuse that some of these features have gone through at the hands of the unaware over the years. xp_CmdShell and OA are both good examples. There are a lot of people who don't know how to properly secure a system (even without enabling such functionality) so that you can use these marvelous tools safely. Even MS flubbed up a bit when they made it possible for non-SA logins/users to use xp_CmdShell directly through the use of a proxy account. I'm a strong believer that non-SA folks should never have the ability to run xp_CmdShell directly but I'm also a strong believer that they should be able to execute a stored procedure that uses it. As you know from a thread long past, there are some pretty simple methods to doing that properly.

Since I'm still a bit stuck in the world of 2005 (that's all they currently have at work), I'm really happy to hear that they've made it so you can override the "FROM" address in Database Mail. That's going to make my life a wee bit simpler. Now all I have to do is get the infrastrucure folks at work to install it on the non-production (Dev, Test, etc) clustered servers at work (yep... even those are clustered) so that I don't have to maintain a CDOSys work around for testing procs that send mail.

As always, I really enjoy these conversations with you, Orlando. They bring out some good points where not only I learn something in the process, but I think others will, as well.