Out of the box "alert me when any hardware component...." issues with firing emails

May be a silly question, but are you putting a $ in front of {node.DeviceContactEmail}?

And where are you defining this? In the Email/Pager recipients? Or via some custom SQL? If it's custom SQL then the table containing that custom property is Nodes, not Node.

Yes to both questions.  I do have the $ in front.  Sorry, I did not specify that in my original post and yes I am defining it in the email/pager recipients.

Well, that rules out the easy stuff

Can you export the alert action and post the code here?

Every time I try to copy/paste the alert the body of the post is blank

I think I figured it out.  Don't open Thwack within SolarWinds monitoring page.

***BEGIN COPY***

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<AlertDefinitions><AlertDefinition AlertDefID="{8AC92415-2FBD-4C6E-93BA-7B683175CD99}" AlertName="Alert me when any hardware component goes into a warning or critical state" AlertDescription="" Enabled="True" StartTime="12:00:00 AM" EndTime="11:59:59 PM" DOW="1,2,3,4,5,6,7" TriggerQuery="SELECT DISTINCT APM_HardwareSensorAlertData.HardwareSensorID AS NetObjectID, APM_HardwareSensorAlertData.SensorDisplayName AS Name
FROM Nodes INNER JOIN APM_HardwareSensorAlertData ON (Nodes.NodeID = APM_HardwareSensorAlertData.NodeId)
WHERE 
(
  (
   (Nodes.Status &lt;&gt; '2')) AND
  (
   (APM_HardwareSensorAlertData.SensorOrionStatus = 'Critical'))
)

" TriggerQueryDesign="&lt;QUERY&gt;&lt;KIND&gt;1&lt;/KIND&gt;&lt;COMPLEX&gt;&lt;TAG&gt;&lt;/TAG&gt;&lt;CONNECTIVE&gt;1&lt;/CONNECTIVE&gt;&lt;CHECKED&gt;1&lt;/CHECKED&gt;&lt;COMPLEX&gt;&lt;TAG&gt;&lt;/TAG&gt;&lt;CONNECTIVE&gt;1&lt;/CONNECTIVE&gt;&lt;CHECKED&gt;1&lt;/CHECKED&gt;&lt;SIMPLE&gt;&lt;TAG&gt;&lt;/TAG&gt;&lt;ALIAS&gt;&lt;/ALIAS&gt;&lt;ADVANCED&gt;0&lt;/ADVANCED&gt;&lt;COMPARISON&gt;5&lt;/COMPARISON&gt;&lt;FUNCTION&gt;0&lt;/FUNCTION&gt;&lt;SORT&gt;0&lt;/SORT&gt;&lt;CHECKED&gt;1&lt;/CHECKED&gt;&lt;LEFTSIDEKIND&gt;2&lt;/LEFTSIDEKIND&gt;&lt;RIGHTSIDEKIND&gt;1&lt;/RIGHTSIDEKIND&gt;&lt;COMPARISONATTRIBUTES&gt;&lt;/COMPARISONATTRIBUTES&gt;&lt;FUNCTIONATTRIBUTES&gt;&lt;/FUNCTIONATTRIBUTES&gt;&lt;LEFTFIELDPATH&gt;Network Nodes.Node Status.Node Status&lt;/LEFTFIELDPATH&gt;&lt;RIGHTFIELDPATH&gt;&lt;/RIGHTFIELDPATH&gt;&lt;LEFTVALUETYPE&gt;0&lt;/LEFTVALUETYPE&gt;&lt;LEFTVALUE&gt;&lt;/LEFTVALUE&gt;&lt;LEFTCAPTION&gt;Node Status&lt;/LEFTCAPTION&gt;&lt;RIGHTVALUETYPE&gt;8&lt;/RIGHTVALUETYPE&gt;&lt;RIGHTVALUE&gt;2&lt;/RIGHTVALUE&gt;&lt;RIGHTCAPTION&gt;Down&lt;/RIGHTCAPTION&gt;&lt;/SIMPLE&gt;&lt;/COMPLEX&gt;&lt;COMPLEX&gt;&lt;TAG&gt;&lt;/TAG&gt;&lt;CONNECTIVE&gt;2&lt;/CONNECTIVE&gt;&lt;CHECKED&gt;1&lt;/CHECKED&gt;&lt;SIMPLE&gt;&lt;TAG&gt;&lt;/TAG&gt;&lt;ALIAS&gt;&lt;/ALIAS&gt;&lt;ADVANCED&gt;0&lt;/ADVANCED&gt;&lt;COMPARISON&gt;0&lt;/COMPARISON&gt;&lt;FUNCTION&gt;0&lt;/FUNCTION&gt;&lt;SORT&gt;0&lt;/SORT&gt;&lt;CHECKED&gt;1&lt;/CHECKED&gt;&lt;LEFTSIDEKIND&gt;2&lt;/LEFTSIDEKIND&gt;&lt;RIGHTSIDEKIND&gt;1&lt;/RIGHTSIDEKIND&gt;&lt;COMPARISONATTRIBUTES&gt;&lt;/COMPARISONATTRIBUTES&gt;&lt;FUNCTIONATTRIBUTES&gt;&lt;/FUNCTIONATTRIBUTES&gt;&lt;LEFTFIELDPATH&gt;Hardware Sensor.Hardware Sensor Status&lt;/LEFTFIELDPATH&gt;&lt;RIGHTFIELDPATH&gt;&lt;/RIGHTFIELDPATH&gt;&lt;LEFTVALUETYPE&gt;0&lt;/LEFTVALUETYPE&gt;&lt;LEFTVALUE&gt;&lt;/LEFTVALUE&gt;&lt;LEFTCAPTION&gt;Hardware Sensor Status&lt;/LEFTCAPTION&gt;&lt;RIGHTVALUETYPE&gt;8&lt;/RIGHTVALUETYPE&gt;&lt;RIGHTVALUE&gt;Critical&lt;/RIGHTVALUE&gt;&lt;RIGHTCAPTION&gt;Critical&lt;/RIGHTCAPTION&gt;&lt;/SIMPLE&gt;&lt;/COMPLEX&gt;&lt;/COMPLEX&gt;&lt;/QUERY&gt;
" ResetQuery="SELECT DISTINCT APM_HardwareSensorAlertData.HardwareSensorID AS NetObjectID, APM_HardwareSensorAlertData.SensorDisplayName AS Name
FROM Nodes INNER JOIN APM_HardwareSensorAlertData ON (Nodes.NodeID = APM_HardwareSensorAlertData.NodeId)
WHERE NOT 
(
  (
   (Nodes.Status &lt;&gt; '2')) AND
  (
   (APM_HardwareSensorAlertData.SensorOrionStatus = 'Critical'))
)

" ResetQueryDesign="SIMPLE" SuppressionQuery="" SuppressionQueryDesign="&lt;QUERY&gt;&lt;KIND&gt;1&lt;/KIND&gt;&lt;COMPLEX&gt;&lt;TAG&gt;&lt;/TAG&gt;&lt;CONNECTIVE&gt;1&lt;/CONNECTIVE&gt;&lt;CHECKED&gt;1&lt;/CHECKED&gt;&lt;/COMPLEX&gt;&lt;/QUERY&gt;
" TriggerSustained="0" ResetSustained="0" LastExecuteTime="1/24/2014 3:24:11 AM" ExecuteInterval="60" BlockUntil="1/24/2014 3:24:13 AM" ResponseTime="0" LastErrorTime="12:00:00 AM" LastError="" ObjectType="Hardware Sensor" IgnoreTimeout="True"><AlertActions><AlertAction ActionDefID="{5A445F8F-97EB-469F-8E97-913AA09E8D25}" AlertDefID="{8AC92415-2FBD-4C6E-93BA-7B683175CD99}" TriggerAction="True" ExecuteIfAcknowledged="True" TimeOffset="0" RepeatInterval="0" StartTime="12:00:00 AM" EndTime="11:59:59 PM" DOW="1,2,3,4,5,6,7" SortOrder="1" ActionType="NPMEventLog" Title="NetPerfMon Event Log : ${SensorDisplayName} on ${NodeName} is ${SensorOrionStatusDescription}" Target="" Parameter1="${SensorDisplayName} on ${NodeName} is ${SensorOrionStatusDescription}" Parameter2="" Parameter3="" Parameter4="" NetObjectType=""/><AlertAction ActionDefID="{8937FAB1-9B6D-45D6-879C-D45535821F80}" AlertDefID="{8AC92415-2FBD-4C6E-93BA-7B683175CD99}" TriggerAction="True" ExecuteIfAcknowledged="True" TimeOffset="0" RepeatInterval="0" StartTime="12:00:00 AM" EndTime="11:59:59 PM" DOW="1,2,3,4,5,6,7" SortOrder="2" ActionType="EMail" Title="Send E-Mail/Page to ${node.DeviceContactEmail};" Target="To:${node.DeviceContactEmail}
CC:
BCC:
SMTPServer:mail.babc.com
SMTPPort:25
EnableSSL:False
Format:Text
" Parameter1="${SensorDisplayName} on ${NodeName} is ${SensorOrionStatusDescription}" Parameter2="${SensorDisplayName} on ${NodeName} is ${SensorOrionStatusDescription}

Time:  ${DateTime}" Parameter3="&quot;Network Performance Monitor&quot; &lt;Solarwinds@babc.com&gt;" Parameter4="" NetObjectType=""/></AlertActions></AlertDefinition></AlertDefinitions>

***END COPY***

Dan,

I was able to export the rule and post.  Not sure if you saw the post because I had issues posting it within Thwack.

Sorry, I was out all last week. I will see if I can import this and make it work on my end, or at least get some idea why it's failing.

I appreciate the help.  Thanks!  If anyone else wants to take a look at this please do so.  I know how work can be and it's hard to work on things like this on the side when your own job takes priority.