Notification Services doesn't like version mismatches

I was pinged today to check out a failed installation of Notification Services with a vendor app. The vendor consultant was telling us that there was a mismatch in the version of SQL Tools installed, which sounded odd to me, since generally the tools are consistent between versions and the engines are different.

I tried to start up the Notification Services instance and got a 1359 error:

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Services

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Could not start the NSxxxx service on Local Computer.

Error 1359: An internal error occurred.

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OK

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Inspecting the error log, I found this:

Description:

The Notification Services instance encountered an error in one of its components and must stop.

EventParameters:

Instance Name: xxxxx

Problem Description: The database was created with or upgraded to a different edition of Notification Services. Use the Notification Services edition that the database expects.

Notification Services Edition: Standard Edition

Database Edition: Enterprise Edition

So it turns out that the consultant was partially correct - Notification Services won't start if the version is mismatched between the engine installation and its corresponding SQL Server instance. Good to know.