Manage Alert Configurations¶

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Overview
Considerations
Procedures

Overview¶

An alert configuration defines the conditions that trigger an alert and defines how notifications are sent. This tutorial describes how to create and manage the alert configurations for a specified group. To create and manage global alert configurations, see Global Alerts.

Ops Manager creates the following alert configurations for a group automatically upon creation of the group:

If you enable Backup, Ops Manager creates the following alert configurations for the group, if they do not already exist:

Considerations¶

SMS Delivery¶

Many factors may affect alert delivery, including do not call lists, caps for messages sent or delivered, delivery time of day, and message caching.

Check with your telephone service contract for the costs associated with receiving text messages.

If you choose SMS, Ops Manager sends alert text messages to all users in the group who have filled in their mobile numbers for their accounts.

Alert Intervals¶

You can create multiple alert configurations with different frequencies. The minimum frequency for an alert is 5 minutes. The time between re-notifications increases by the frequency amount every alert cycle (e.g. 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes, 20 minutes, etc.) up to a maximum of 24 hours.

You can set the time to elapse before Ops Manager sends an alert after an alert condition occurs. This helps eliminate false positives.

Procedures¶

These procedures apply to alert configurations assigned to a specific group. For global alert configurations, see Global Alerts.

Create a New Alert Configuration¶

When you create a new alert configuration you have the option of using an existing configuration as a template.

1

Select the Activity tab.¶

2

Click the ellipsis icon and select Alert Settings.¶

3

Select whether to use an existing alert as a template.¶

Do one of the following:

To use an existing alert configuration as a template, click the configuration’s ellipsis icon and select Clone.
To create the alert without pre-filled information, click the Add Alert button.

4

Select the condition that triggers the alert.¶

In the Alert if section, select the target component. If you select Host, select the type of host. Then select the condition and, if applicable, the threshold for the metric. For explanations of alert conditions and metrics, see Alert Conditions.

5

Apply the alert to specific targets, if applicable.¶

If the options in the For section are available, you can optionally filter the alert to apply only to a subset of the targets.

is, is not, contains, does not contain, starts with, and ends with use direct string comparison, while matches uses regular expressions.

The For options are only available for replica sets and hosts.

6

Select the alert recipients and delivery methods.¶

In the Send to section, select the notification methods, recipients, and alert frequencies. To add methods or recipients, click Add and select from the following:

Notification Method	Description
Group	Sends the alert by email or SMS to the group. If you select SMS, Ops Manager sends the text message to the number configured on each user’s Account page. To send only to specific roles, deselect All Roles and select the desired roles.
User	Sends the alert by email or SMS to a specified Ops Manager user. If you select SMS, Ops Manager sends the text message to the number configured on the user’s Account page.
Email	Sends the alert to a specified email address.
SMS	Sends the alert to a specified mobile number. Ops Manager removes all punctuation and letters and uses only the digits. If you are outside of the United States or Canada, include ‘011’ and the country code. For example, for New Zealand enter ‘01164’ before your phone number. As an alternative, use a Google Voice number. Ops Manager uses the U.S.-based Twilio to send SMS messages.
HipChat	Sends the alert to a HipChat room message stream. Enter the HipChat room name and API token. To define a default room and API token for the group, see Group Settings.
PagerDuty	Enter only the service key. Define escalation rules and alert assignments in PagerDuty. To define a default service key for the group, see Group Settings.
Webhook	Sends an HTTP POST request to an endpoint for programmatic processing. The request body contains a JSON document that uses the same format as the Public API’s Alerts resource. The `Webhook` option is available only if you have configured the Webhook Settings on the Group Settings page.
SNMP	Specify the hostname that will receive the v2c trap on standard port `162`. The MIB file for SNMP is available for download here.

7

Click Save.¶

Modify an Alert Configuration¶

Each alert configuration has a distribution list, a frequency for sending the alert, and a waiting period after an alert state triggers before sending the first alert. The minimum frequency for sending an alert is 5 minutes.

1

Select the Activity tab.¶

2

Click the ellipsis icon and select Alert Settings.¶

3

On the line listing the alert configuration, click the ellipsis icon and select Edit.¶

4

Select the condition that triggers the alert.¶

In the Alert if section, select the target component. If you select Host, select the type of host. Then select the condition and, if applicable, the threshold for the metric. For explanations of alert conditions and metrics, see Alert Conditions.

5

Apply the alert to specific targets, if applicable.¶

If the options in the For section are available, you can optionally filter the alert to apply only to a subset of the targets.

is, is not, contains, does not contain, starts with, and ends with use direct string comparison, while matches uses regular expressions.

The For options are only available for replica sets and hosts.

6

Select the alert recipients and delivery methods.¶

In the Send to section, select the notification methods, recipients, and alert frequencies. To add methods or recipients, click Add and select from the following:

Notification Method	Description
Group	Sends the alert by email or SMS to the group. If you select SMS, Ops Manager sends the text message to the number configured on each user’s Account page. To send only to specific roles, deselect All Roles and select the desired roles.
User	Sends the alert by email or SMS to a specified Ops Manager user. If you select SMS, Ops Manager sends the text message to the number configured on the user’s Account page.
Email	Sends the alert to a specified email address.
SMS	Sends the alert to a specified mobile number. Ops Manager removes all punctuation and letters and uses only the digits. If you are outside of the United States or Canada, include ‘011’ and the country code. For example, for New Zealand enter ‘01164’ before your phone number. As an alternative, use a Google Voice number. Ops Manager uses the U.S.-based Twilio to send SMS messages.
HipChat	Sends the alert to a HipChat room message stream. Enter the HipChat room name and API token. To define a default room and API token for the group, see Group Settings.
PagerDuty	Enter only the service key. Define escalation rules and alert assignments in PagerDuty. To define a default service key for the group, see Group Settings.
Webhook	Sends an HTTP POST request to an endpoint for programmatic processing. The request body contains a JSON document that uses the same format as the Public API’s Alerts resource. The `Webhook` option is available only if you have configured the Webhook Settings on the Group Settings page.
SNMP	Specify the hostname that will receive the v2c trap on standard port `162`. The MIB file for SNMP is available for download here.

7

Click Save.¶

Delete an Alert Configuration¶

If you delete an alert configuration that has open alerts, Ops Manager cancels the open alerts whether or not they have been acknowledged and sends no further notifications.

1

Select the Activity tab.¶

2

On the line listing the alert configuration, click the ellipsis icon and Delete.¶

3

Click Confirm.¶

Disable or Enable an Alert Configuration¶

When you disable an alert configuration, Ops Manager cancels active alerts related to the disabled configuration. The configuration remains visible in a grayed-out state and can be later re-enabled.

1

Select the Activity tab.¶

2

On the line listing the alert configuration, click the ellipsis icon and select either Disable or Enable.¶

View the History of Changes to an Alert Configuration¶

1

Select the Activity tab.¶

2

Click the ellipsis icon and select Alert Settings.¶

3

On the line listing the alert configuration, click the ellipsis icon and select History.¶

Ops Manager displays the history of changes to the alert configuration.

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