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Manage Alert Configurations

Overview

An alert configuration defines the conditions that trigger an alert and the alert’s notification methods. This tutorial describes how to create and manage the alert configurations for a specified project. To create and manage global alert configurations, see Manage Global Alerts.

Default Alert Configurations

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

  • User joined the project
  • Host's SSL certificate will expire within 30 days
  • Monitoring Agent is down

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

  • Backup oplog is behind
  • Backup requires a resync
  • Cluster is missing an active mongos

Default Settings for Notification Options

Project administrators can configure default settings for the following notification options:

  • PagerDuty
  • Flowdock
  • HipChat
  • Slack
  • DataDog
  • Webhook

To configure default settings for one of the above notification options, click Settings, then Project Settings. Locate the notification option and enter the default values.

Ops Manager will fill in the default values automatically when a user selects that option when creating an alert configuration. If the key, token, or URL that is used to send the notification becomes invalid, Ops Manager will send an email to the project owner and will eventually remove the key, token, or URL.

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 project 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 up to a maximum of 24 hours. For example, if the frequency amount is 5 minutes, and the alert condition is first triggered at 9am, subsequent alerts occur at 9:05am, 9:15am, 9:30am, etc.

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

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

Click Alerts.

2

Choose whether to clone an existing alert configuration as a template.

To create a new alert without cloning an existing configuration:

  1. Click Add.
  2. Click New Alert.

To clone an existing configuration:

  1. Click the Alert Settings tab.
  2. Locate the configuration.
  3. Click the ellipsis icon
  4. Click Clone.
3

Select the condition that triggers the alert.

In the Alert if section, select the target component and the condition. For explanations of alert conditions, see Alert Conditions.

4

Apply the alert only to specific targets. (Optional)

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

The matches field can use regular expressions.

5

Select the alert recipients and delivery methods.

In the Send to section, click Add to add notifications or recipients. To help eliminate false positives, set the time to elapse before the condition triggers the alert.

To test HipChat, Slack, FlowDock, or PagerDuty integration, click the test link that appears after you configure the notification.

Notification Option For Alert Type Description
Project Project or Global only Sends the alert by email or SMS to the project. 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, clear All Roles and select the desired roles.
Ops Manager User Project only 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.
Ops Manager Team Project only

Sends the alert by email or SMS to a specified Ops Manager team. If you select SMS, Ops Manager sends the text message to the number configured on each team user’s Account page.

Note

This option appears only after at least one team has been created.

SNMP Host Any Specify the hostname that will receive the v2c trap on standard port 162. The MIB file for SNMP is available for download.
Email Any Sends the alert to a specified email address.
SMS Any

Sends the alert to a specified mobile number.

Available only if Ops Manager is configured for Twilio integration.

HipChat Any Sends the alert to a HipChat room message stream. Enter the HipChat room name and API token.
Slack Any Sends the alert to a Slack channel. Enter the channel name and either an API token or a Bot token. To create an API token, see the API page in your Slack account. For information on Bot users in Slack, see Bot Users.
FlowDock Any

Sends the alert to a Flowdock account. Enter the following:

  • Organization Name: The Flowdock organization name in lowercase letters. This is the name that appears after www.flowdock.com/app/ in the URL string.
  • Flow Name: The flow name in lowercase letters. The flow name appears after the organization name in the URL www.flowdock.com/app/orgname/flowname.
  • User API Token: Your Flowdock “personal API token” found on the Tokens page of your Flowdock account.
PagerDuty Any

Sends the alert to a PagerDuty account. Enter only the PagerDuty service key. Define escalation rules and alert assignments directly in PagerDuty.

This option is available only for alerts that require acknowledgement. Informational alerts, such as the alert that a replica set has elected a new primary, cannot use this notification method.

Users can acknowledge PagerDuty alerts only from the PagerDuty dashboard.

Webhook Global or Project only 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 Ops Manager API Alerts resource. This option is available only if you have configured Webhook settings on the Group Settings page.
DataDog Any

Sends the alert to a DataDog account. Enter the following:

Administrators Global or System only Sends the alert to the email address specified in the Admin Email Address field in the Ops Manager configuration options.
Global Alerts Summary Email Global only Sends a summary email of all global alerts to the specified email address.
6

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

Click Alerts, then the Alert Settings tab.

2

Click the Active Alerts filter.

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 and the condition. For explanations of alert conditions, see Alert Conditions.

5

Apply the alert only to specific targets. (Optional)

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

The matches field can use regular expressions.

6

Select the alert recipients and delivery methods.

In the Send to section, click Add to add notifications or recipients. To help eliminate false positives, set the time to elapse before the condition triggers the alert.

To test HipChat, Slack, FlowDock, or PagerDuty integration, click the test link that appears after you configure the notification.

Notification Option For Alert Type Description
Project Project or Global only Sends the alert by email or SMS to the project. 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, clear All Roles and select the desired roles.
Ops Manager User Project only 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.
Ops Manager Team Project only

Sends the alert by email or SMS to a specified Ops Manager team. If you select SMS, Ops Manager sends the text message to the number configured on each team user’s Account page.

Note

This option appears only after at least one team has been created.

SNMP Host Any Specify the hostname that will receive the v2c trap on standard port 162. The MIB file for SNMP is available for download.
Email Any Sends the alert to a specified email address.
SMS Any

Sends the alert to a specified mobile number.

Available only if Ops Manager is configured for Twilio integration.

HipChat Any Sends the alert to a HipChat room message stream. Enter the HipChat room name and API token.
Slack Any Sends the alert to a Slack channel. Enter the channel name and either an API token or a Bot token. To create an API token, see the API page in your Slack account. For information on Bot users in Slack, see Bot Users.
FlowDock Any

Sends the alert to a Flowdock account. Enter the following:

  • Organization Name: The Flowdock organization name in lowercase letters. This is the name that appears after www.flowdock.com/app/ in the URL string.
  • Flow Name: The flow name in lowercase letters. The flow name appears after the organization name in the URL www.flowdock.com/app/orgname/flowname.
  • User API Token: Your Flowdock “personal API token” found on the Tokens page of your Flowdock account.
PagerDuty Any

Sends the alert to a PagerDuty account. Enter only the PagerDuty service key. Define escalation rules and alert assignments directly in PagerDuty.

This option is available only for alerts that require acknowledgement. Informational alerts, such as the alert that a replica set has elected a new primary, cannot use this notification method.

Users can acknowledge PagerDuty alerts only from the PagerDuty dashboard.

Webhook Global or Project only 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 Ops Manager API Alerts resource. This option is available only if you have configured Webhook settings on the Group Settings page.
DataDog Any

Sends the alert to a DataDog account. Enter the following:

Administrators Global or System only Sends the alert to the email address specified in the Admin Email Address field in the Ops Manager configuration options.
Global Alerts Summary Email Global only Sends a summary email of all global alerts to the specified email address.
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

Click Alerts, then the Alert Settings tab.

2

Click the Active Alerts filter.

3

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

4

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 but grayed-out and can be later re-enabled. If you need to disable an alert only for a period of time, you can alternatively suspend alerts.

To disable or enable an alert configuration:

1

Click Alerts, then the Alert Settings tab.

2

Click the Active Alerts filter.

3

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

View the History of Changes to an Alert Configuration

1

Click Alerts, then the Alert Settings tab.

2

Click either the Active Alerts or Deleted Alerts filter, depending on the configuration’s status.

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.