Simple Alerts

Create an Alert Rule

You can create as many alert rules as needed in vuSmartMaps. 

The system will regularly check these rules and send notifications when the conditions are met. Notifications are sent through the configured channels in each rule. 

vuSmartMaps Alerts can be accessed by navigating from the left navigation menu (Configure Observability > Alerts).

To create a new alert rule click on the + button and follow the steps below.

1. Basic details

• Summary:  Enter brief details of your Alert.
• Description: Provide a description of the alert.

2. Data Models to be alerted on

Select a Data Model from the list based on the requirement. Select the time for which the Data Model is to be evaluated.

• R1 or Rule Name: Provide a name for your alert rule.
• Data Model: Enlists all the available Data Models. You can choose one of them as per your requirements. Click on the + New Data Model button to create a fresh Data Model excluding the existing ones.
• Get Data Model for the last: Choose the time slot as required from minutes through years.
• Metric, Operator, Threshold: For the selected Data Model, select the ‘Metric’ on which you can apply the conditional operators against a threshold value.
• + Data Model: Click on this button to add multiple Data Models for a single alert.
• Information Collection: This checkbox appears only when more than one Data Model is selected.

Alert with Multiple Rules aka Complex Rules

When using multiple rules, here’s what to keep in mind:

• The buckets in the first rule should also be in the second rule.
• The second rule can have additional buckets, and the third rule should include all the buckets from the second rule.
• When creating Data Models, ensure the order of the buckets is the same.
• Alerts will only be executed when all the rules are true; otherwise, the alerts won’t trigger.

3. Logic Conditions (optional)

Alert notification behavior and notification contents can be modified using the conditions specified here.

For example, based on the value of a metric (Metric Condition), you can decide on the email recipients for a notification.

Based on the metric condition, duration, and/or severity of the alert, three types of controls are possible:

• Decide whether an alert notification should be generated
• Modify the contents of the notification
• Modify the notification channels to be used and individual recipients within the channel.

The evaluation conditions configured here are executed from top to bottom. The system stops the execution as soon as a condition matches. There are 3 kinds of conditions available in the logical blocks.

• Duration: This returns True if the duration of an alarm-mode-enabled alert is equal to or more than the one configured by the user
• Severity: This returns True if the severity of the alert notification is equal to or more than the one configured by the user
• Metric Condition: This is a combination of one or more conditions based on the data models specified by the users in the Rule section. Only the Data models specified in the Rule section can be used here. All the metric conditions have an AND relationship among them

Note: All three conditions can have an AND or OR relationship among them on the basis of the Match all the following conditions or Match any of the following conditions flags.

• C1 or Condition Name: Optional name for the logic condition. This can be configured to represent the purpose of this block.
• Match all the following conditions: When selected, actions configured in this block are executed by the system, if all the conditions specified here are satisfied.
• Match any of the following conditions: When selected, actions configured in this block are executed by the system, if one of the conditions specified here is satisfied.
• Generate Alert on Match (toggle): If it is enabled then the alert notification is generated when the conditions match and vice versa.
• Alert Content: Actions listed here are used to modify, remove or add fields in the notification.
• Alert Destination: Modifications listed here will be applied to the notification channels and recipients.

4. Evaluation Script (optional)

Control alert notification behavior and notification contents using Python script

5. Alert Controls

Use this section to control the way alert notifications are generated by the system for this alert object.

• Evaluate the Alert Rule: This setting will let you schedule at what time the alert rule has to be executed by the system.
• Enable Alarm Mode: 
  • When enabled, the system tracks the state of an alarm. Notifications are generated when the alert condition turns active or when the condition gets cleared. In the intermediate period, when the condition continues to be active, no further notifications are generated. 
  • When disabled, notifications are generated at regular intervals as long as the alert condition is active. In this case, the system does not track the state of the alarm and no clear notifications will be generated.
• Throttling: The throttling is applicable only when alarm mode is disabled. 
  • When throttling is enabled, the system stops sending notifications for a particular condition for the configured interval. 
  • For example, if the throttling interval is configured as 2 hours, a CPU usage high alert for a particular server will be notified a second time only after 2 hours from the first notification. 
  • This configuration would be useful to avoid repeated notifications when alarm mode is disabled.
• Enable Alerts during: This configuration can be used to avoid getting notifications during lean periods. For example, weekends, non-business hours, etc.
• Advanced Configuration: Experts configure the more advanced settings here.

6. Alert Channels

Use this section to control the alert notification channels.

• Email: The system notifies users through email. A list of email identifiers of recipients or an email group corresponding to the recipients is to be configured here. The system uses a predefined email format for notifications. The same can be overridden using “Email Body”.
• WhatsApp: The vuSmartMaps platform can notify users through WhatsApp. Recipient phone numbers are to be configured here.
  • Mobile Number: Enter the phone numbers with the country code. Each mobile number must be separated by commas.
  • WhatsApp Group: Select the  WhatsApp groups from the dropdown. These are configured in the Definition section under settings.
• SMS: The system notifies users through SMS. A list of SMS identifiers of recipients or an SMS group corresponding to the recipients is to be configured here. The system uses a predefined SMS format for notifications. The same can be overridden using “SMS Body”.
• Runbook Automation: Automation hook scripts. The system invokes the configured playbooks when the alert condition turns active.
• Reports: Generate a report when the alert condition turns active. The report is sent out over email to the email recipients configured in the report.
• Tickets: (Will be supported In the upcoming iterations)
• Slack: vuSmartMaps platform can notify users through Slack Channels. Recipient Slack Channels are to be configured here..

• • Slack Users: Enter Slack User IDs by separating them with commas.
  • Slack Groups: Enter Slack Channel IDs or names by separating them with commas. 
  • Slack Message Body: Add content that needs to be sent as a message. Eg: Alert_Name: {{Alert-Rule-Name}} and Severity: {{severity}}. The variable inside the brackets will be substituted with values in real time.
• Teams: The vuSmartMaps platform can notify users through Teams Channels. Recipient Teams groups are to be configured here.
  • Team Groups: Enter Slack Channel IDs or names by separating them with commas. The channels that are configured in the Preference Section must be entered here.
  • Team Message Body: Add content that needs to be sent as a message. Eg: Alert_Name: {{Alert-Rule-Name}} and Severity: {{severity}}. The variable inside the brackets will be substituted with values in real-time.