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Configure Alert Settings

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.

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 a mobile number associated with their user account.

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.

Default Alert Configurations

Ops Manager provides no default alerts for organizations.

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

  • Host's SSL certificate will expire within 30 days
  • Monitoring 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
  • Host has security recommendations

  • Query Targeting: Scanned Objects / Returned is

    Note

    The default configuration sends an alert only if the ratio of documents scanned to documents returned meets or exceeds the specified threshold for at least 10 minutes.

Default Settings for Notification Options

You can configure default settings for the following notification options:

  • Ops Manager Organization
  • Ops Manager User
  • Email
  • SMS
  • HipChat
  • Slack
  • PagerDuty
  • Flowdock
  • Datadog
  • VictorOps
  • Opsgenie

You can configure default settings for the following notification options:

  • Ops Manager Organization
  • Ops Manager User
  • SNMP Host
  • Email
  • SMS
  • HipChat
  • Slack
  • PagerDuty
  • Flowdock
  • Datadog
  • VictorOps
  • Opsgenie

To configure default settings for one of the above notification options, click Integrations under Projects in the sidebar. 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.

Create an Alert Configuration

When you create a new alert, you can clone an existing alert.

1
2

Choose whether to create a new alert setting or clone an existing one.

To create a new alert:

  1. Click Add Alert.

To clone an existing alert setting:

  1. Click the Alert Settings tab.
  2. Locate the alert setting you want to clone.
  3. Click ellipsis h icon then Clone in that alert setting’s row.
3

Choose the Target.

Click User or Billing under Select a Target.

4

Choose the Condition.

Under Select a Condition:

  • If you chose User:
    1. Select from the available options.
    2. Click Next.
  • If you chose Billing:
    1. Select from the available options.
    2. If above $ appears next to the option you selected, specify the amount in USD where MongoDB Atlas should trigger the alert if the selected condition exceeds that value.
    3. Click Next.
5

Select the Notification Method.

Under the Add Notification Method heading, click the button for the particular notification method you want to use.

Notification Option User Alerts Billing Alerts Description
Ops Manager Organization check icon check icon

Sends the alert by email or text message to users with specific roles in the Organization.

  1. Select the Organization roles that should receive the alerts from the Select Role(s) check boxes or select All Roles for all users in the Organization to receive the alert.
  2. Select SMS to send these alerts to the mobile number configured for each Ops Manager Organization user in their Account page.
  3. Select Email to send these alerts to the email address configured for each Ops Manager Organization user in their Account page. Email is checked by default.
Ops Manager User check icon check icon

Sends the alert to a Ops Manager user, either by email or text message.

  • Select SMS to send these alerts to the mobile number configured for the Ops Manager user’s account.
  • Select Email to send these alerts to the email address configured for the Ops Manager user’s account. Email is checked by default.
Email check icon check icon Sends the alert to any email address you provide.
Mobile Number check icon check icon

Sends the alert to a phone number. Ops Manager removes all letters and punctuation except the +.

For international (non-U.S.) phone numbers, format phone numbers using the E.164 standard. Ops Manager uses the U.S.-based Twilio to send text messages.

If you want to use a non-U.S. phone number, try using a Google Voice phone number.

Example

For New Zealand, enter +64 before the phone number.

Configure Ops Manager for Twilio integration to use SMS.

Slack check icon check icon

Sends the alert to a Slack channel in the authorized Slack workplace for the Organization.

  • 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.

To learn more about Bot users in Slack, see the Slack documentation.

Flowdock check icon check icon

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

Org Name The Flowdock organization name in lower-case letters. This is the name that appears after www.flowdock.com/app/ in the URL string.
Flow Name The flow name in lower-case letters. The flow name appears after the organization name in the URL string: www.flowdock.com/app/<organization-name>/<flow-name>
User API Token Your Flowdock personal API token found on the Tokens page of your Flowdock account.
PagerDuty   check icon

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

This option is available only for alerts that require an acknowledgement. Information alerts, such as User joined the organization, can’t use this notification method.

Acknowledge PagerDuty alerts from the PagerDuty dashboard.

Note

PagerDuty decommissioned their REST API v1 key in October 2018. If you have a v1 key, you can continue to use that key with Ops Manager. All new PagerDuty keys use their REST API v2, but Ops Manager does not support their v2 keys. If you don’t have their REST API v1 key, use the PagerDuty Events API v1 instead.

Datadog check icon check icon

Sends the alert to a Datadog account as a Datadog event.

When the alert first opens, Ops Manager sends the alert as an “error” event. Subsequent updates are sent as “info” events. When the alert closes, Ops Manager sends a “success” event.

If prompted, enter your DataDog API key under API Key and click Validate Datadog API Key.

Find your DataDog API Key in your Datadog account.

VictorOps   check icon

Sends the alert to a VictorOps account.

  • In Ops Manager, enter the following VictorOps setting information:
    • API key. This integrates the VictorOps endpoint for alerts.
    • Routing key. This optional setting routes alerts to a specific VictorOps group.
  • Click Post Test Alert to test VictorOps configuration.
  • Define escalation and routing rules directly in VictorOps.

This option displays for alerts that require acknowledgement. You can use this notification method on information alerts. These alerts include ones like User joined the organization.

Acknowledge VictorOps alerts from the VictorOps dashboard.

Opsgenie   check icon

Sends the alert to an Opsgenie account.

  • Enter the Opsgenie Alert API key in Ops Manager.
  • Define escalation rules and alert assignments in Opsgenie.

This option displays for alerts that require acknowledgement. You can use this notification method on information alerts. These alerts include ones like User joined the organization.

Acknowledge Opsgenie alerts from the Opsgenie dashboard.

6

Click Save.

1
2

Choose whether to create a new alert setting or clone an existing one.

To create a new alert without cloning an existing setting:

  1. Click Add.
  2. Select New Alert.

To clone an existing alert setting:

  1. Click the Alert Settings tab.
  2. Locate the alert setting you want to clone.
  3. Click ellipsis h icon then Clone in that alert setting’s row.
3

Select the condition that triggers the alert.

In the Alert if section, select the target component and the condition. To learn more about alert conditions, see Alert Event Types.

4

Optional: Apply the alert only to specific targets.

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 filter uses a logical OR operator between each condition.

The matches field can use regular expressions.

5

Select the alert recipients and delivery methods.

In the Send to section:

  1. (Optional) To help reduce the false positives that Ops Manager sends, in the send if condition lasts at least field, specify the minutes to elapse before the condition sends the alert. The next alert check that runs after the specified time elapses sends the alert.

  2. (Optional) In the resend after field, specify the minutes to elapse before the condition resends the alert.

  3. Click Add and select from the options described in the following table.

    Which alert notification methods can be set depend on the scope of the alert:

    Project alerts

    Apply to one or more individual Organizations and Projects only.

    Global alerts

    Apply to all Organizations and Projects.

    System alerts

    Apply to the health of Ops Manager and its backing databases.

    The alert notifications methods are as follows:

    Notification Method Project Global System Description
    Ops Manager Project check icon check icon  

    Sends the alert by email or text message to users with specific roles in the Project.

    1. Select the Project roles that should receive the alerts from the Select Role(s) check boxes or select All Roles for all users in the Project to receive the alert.
    2. Select SMS to send these alerts to the mobile number configured for each Ops Manager Project user in their Account page.
    3. Select Email to send these alerts to the email address configured for each Ops Manager Project user in their Account page. Email is checked by default.
    Ops Manager Organization check icon check icon  

    Sends the alert by email or text message to users with specific roles in the Organization.

    1. Select the Organization roles that should receive the alerts from the Select Role(s) check boxes or select All Roles for all users in the Organization to receive the alert.
    2. Select SMS to send these alerts to the mobile number configured for each Ops Manager Organization user in their Account page.
    3. Select Email to send these alerts to the email address configured for each Ops Manager Organization user in their Account page. Email is checked by default.
    Ops Manager User check icon    

    Sends the alert to a Ops Manager user, either by email or text message.

    • Select SMS to send these alerts to the mobile number configured for the Ops Manager user’s account.
    • Select Email to send these alerts to the email address configured for the Ops Manager user’s account. Email is checked by default.
    Ops Manager Team check icon    

    Sends the alert to a Ops Manager user, either by email or text message.

    • Select SMS to send these alerts to the mobile number configured for the Ops Manager user’s account.
    • Select Email to send these alerts to the email address configured for the Ops Manager user’s account. Email is checked by default.
    SNMP Host check icon check icon check icon Specify the hostname that will receive the v2c trap on standard port 162. The MIB file for SNMP is available for download.
    Email check icon check icon check icon Sends the alert to a specified email address.
    SMS check icon check icon check icon

    Sends the alert to a phone number. Ops Manager removes all letters and punctuation except the +.

    For international (non-U.S.) phone numbers, format phone numbers using the E.164 standard. Ops Manager uses the U.S.-based Twilio to send text messages.

    If you want to use a non-U.S. phone number, try using a Google Voice phone number.

    Example

    For New Zealand, enter +64 before the phone number.

    Configure Ops Manager for Twilio integration to use SMS.

    HipChat check icon check icon check icon Sends the alert to a HipChat room message stream. Enter the HipChat room name and API token.
    Slack check icon check icon check icon

    Sends the alert to a Slack channel in the authorized Slack workplace for the Organization.

    • 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.

    To learn more about Bot users in Slack, see the Slack documentation.

    FlowDock check icon check icon check icon

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

    Org Name The Flowdock organization name in lower-case letters. This is the name that appears after www.flowdock.com/app/ in the URL string.
    Flow Name The flow name in lower-case letters. The flow name appears after the organization name in the URL string: www.flowdock.com/app/<organization-name>/<flow-name>
    User API Token Your Flowdock personal API token found on the Tokens page of your Flowdock account.
    PagerDuty check icon check icon check icon

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

    This option is available only for alerts that require an acknowledgement. Information alerts, such as User joined the organization, can’t use this notification method.

    Acknowledge PagerDuty alerts from the PagerDuty dashboard.

    Note

    PagerDuty decommissioned their REST API v1 key in October 2018. If you have a v1 key, you can continue to use that key with Ops Manager. All new PagerDuty keys use their REST API v2, but Ops Manager does not support their v2 keys. If you don’t have their REST API v1 key, use the PagerDuty Events API v1 instead.

    Webhook check icon check icon  

    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.

    To configure this option, configure the Webhook settings on the Project Settings page.

    To use this method at the Global level:

    1. Navigate to the Ops Manager Config Miscellaneous tab of the Administration console.
    2. Update the Webhook URL and Webhook Secret settings.

    Ops Manager adds a request header called X-MMS-Event to distinguish between various alert states. The possible values for this header are:

    alert.open The alert was just opened.
    alert.close The alert was resolved.
    alert.update A previously opened alert is still open.
    alert.acknowledge The alert was acknowledged.
    alert.cancel The alert became invalid and was canceled.
    alert.inform Represents an informational alert, which is a point-in-time event, such as “Primary Elected.”

    If you specify a key in the Webhook Secret field, MongoDB Ops Manager adds the X-MMS-Signature request header. This header contains the base64-encoded HMAC-SHA-1 signature of the request body. MongoDB Ops Manager creates the signature using the provided secret.

    Datadog check icon check icon check icon

    Sends the alert to a Datadog account as a Datadog event.

    When the alert first opens, Ops Manager sends the alert as an “error” event. Subsequent updates are sent as “info” events. When the alert closes, Ops Manager sends a “success” event.

    If prompted, enter your DataDog API key under API Key and click Validate Datadog API Key.

    Find your DataDog API Key in your Datadog account.

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

Click Save.

Delete an Alert Configuration

1
2

Choose the alert setting to delete.

  1. On the row for a specific alert, click ellipsis h icon then Delete.

  2. Click Delete in the Delete Alert modal or click Cancel to leave the alert as configured.

    Note

    If you have not logged in within the five minutes of pushing Delete, you need to re-enter your password, then click Delete again.

1
2

Choose the alert setting to delete.

  1. On the row for a specific alert, click ellipsis h icon then Delete.
  2. Click Confirm in the Confirm Delete modal or click Cancel to leave the alert as configured.

If you delete an alert setting, Ops Manager cancels active alerts related to the setting. A deleted alert setting does not remain visible.

Disable or Enable an Alert Configuration

1

Navigate to Alert Settings.

  1. If it is not already displayed, select your desired organization from the office icon Organizations menu in the navigation bar.
  2. Click Alerts in the sidebar.
  3. Click the Alert Settings tab.
2

Choose the alert setting to disable.

On the row for a specific alert, click ellipsis h icon then Disable.

Click ellipsis h icon then Enable to re-enable the alert at any time.

1

Navigate to the Alert Settings tab.

  1. If it is not already displayed, select the organization that contains your desired project from the office icon Organizations menu in the navigation bar.
  2. If it is not already displayed, select your desired project from the Projects menu in the navigation bar.
  3. Click the bell icon Project Alerts icon in the navigation bar, or click Alerts in the sidebar.
  4. Click the Alert Settings tab.
2

Choose the alert setting to disable.

On the row for a specific alert, click ellipsis h icon then Disable.

Note

Click ellipsis h icon then Enable to re-enable the alert at any time.

If you disable an alert setting, Ops Manager cancels active alerts related to the setting. A disabled alert setting 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 suspend alerts.

View the History of Changes to an Alert Configuration

You can view all alerts, alert settings, and deleted alerts on the Organization Alerts page. To learn more, see Alerts Workflow.

1

Navigate to the Alert Settings tab.

  1. If it is not already displayed, select your desired organization from the office icon Organizations menu in the navigation bar.
  2. Click Alerts in the sidebar.
  3. Click the Alert Settings tab.
2

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.

You can view open alerts, closed alerts, and alert settings on the Project Alerts page. Ops Manager sends notifications for all alerts that appear on the Open tab. To learn more, see Alerts Workflow.

1

Navigate to the Alert Settings tab.

  1. If it is not already displayed, select the organization that contains your desired project from the office icon Organizations menu in the navigation bar.
  2. If it is not already displayed, select your desired project from the Projects menu in the navigation bar.
  3. Click the bell icon Project Alerts icon in the navigation bar, or click Alerts in the sidebar.
  4. Click 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.