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Comparing alerts and alarms

Contributors netapp-lhalbert

There are a number of similarities between the alert system and the legacy alarm system, but the alert system offers significant benefits and is easier to use.

Refer to the following table to learn how to perform similar operations.

Alerts Alarms (legacy system)

How do I see which alerts or alarms are active?

  • Click the Current alerts link on the Dashboard.

  • Click the alert on the Nodes > Overview page.

  • Select Alerts > Current.

  • Click the Legacy alarms link on the Dashboard.

  • Select Support > Alarms (legacy) > Current Alarms.

What causes an alert or an alert to be triggered?

Alerts are triggered when a Prometheus expression in an alert rule evaluates as true for the specific trigger condition and duration.

Alarms are triggered when a StorageGRID attribute reaches a threshold value.

If an alert or alarm is triggered, how do I resolve the underlying problem?

The recommended actions for an alert are included in email notifications and are available from the Alerts pages in the Grid Manager.

As required, additional information is provided in the StorageGRID documentation.

You can learn about an alarm by clicking the attribute name, or you can search for an alarm code in the StorageGRID documentation.

Where can I see a list of alerts or alarms have been resolved?

  • Click the Recently resolved alerts link on the Dashboard.

  • Select Alerts > Resolved.

Select Support > Alarms (legacy) > Historical Alarms.

Where do I manage the settings?

Select Alerts. Then, use the options in the Alerts menu.

Select Support. Then, use the options in the Alarms (legacy) section of the menu.

What user group permissions do I need?

  • Anyone who can sign in to the Grid Manager can view current and resolved alerts.

  • You must have the Manage Alerts permission to manage silences, alert notifications, and alert rules.

  • Anyone who can sign in to the Grid Manager can view legacy alarms.

  • You must have the Acknowledge Alarms permission to acknowledge alarms.

  • You must have both the Grid Topology Page Configuration and Other Grid Configuration permissions to manage global alarms and email notifications.

How do I manage email notifications?

Select Alerts > Email Setup.

Note: Because alarms and alerts are independent systems, the email setup used for alarm and AutoSupport notifications is not used for alert notifications. However, you can use the same mail server for all notifications.

Select Support > Alarms (legacy) > Legacy Email Setup. Configuring notifications for alarms (legacy system)

How do I manage SNMP notifications?

Select Configuration > Monitoring > SNMP Agent. Using SNMP monitoring

Select Configuration > Monitoring > SNMP Agent. Using SNMP monitoring

Note: SNMP notifications are not sent for every alarm or alarm severity.

How do I control who receives notifications?

  1. Select Alerts > Email Setup.

  2. In the Recipients section, enter an email address for each email list or person who should receive an email when an alert occurs.

  1. Select Support > Alarms (legacy) > Legacy Email Setup.

  2. Creating a mailing list.

  3. Select Notifications.

  4. Select the mailing list.

Which Admin Nodes send notifications?

A single Admin Node (the “preferred sender”).

A single Admin Node (the “preferred sender”).

How do I suppress some notifications?

  1. Select Alerts > Silences.

  2. Select the alert rule you want to silence.

  3. Specify a duration for the silence.

  4. Select the severity of alert you want to silence.

  5. Select to apply the silence to the entire grid, a single site, or a single node.

Note: If you have enabled the SNMP agent, silences also suppress SNMP traps and informs.

  1. Select Support > Alarms (legacy) > Legacy Email Setup.

  2. Select Notifications.

  3. Select a mailing list, and select Suppress.

How do I suppress all notifications?

Select Alerts > Silences.Then, select All rules.

Note: If you have enabled the SNMP agent, silences also suppress SNMP traps and informs.

  1. Select Configuration > System Settings > Display Options.

  2. Select the Notification Suppress All check box.

Note: Suppressing email notifications system wide also suppresses event-triggered AutoSupport emails.

How do I customize the conditions and triggers?

  1. Select Alerts > Alert Rules.

  2. Select a default rule to edit, or select Create custom rule.

  1. Select Support > Alarms (legacy) > Global Alarms.

  2. Create a Global Custom alarm to override a Default alarm or to monitor an attribute that does not have a Default alarm.

How do I disable an individual alert or alarm?

  1. Select Alerts > Alert Rules.

  2. Select the rule, and click Edit rule.

  3. Unselect the Enabled check box.

  1. Select Support > Alarms (legacy) > Global Alarms.

  2. Select the rule, and click the Edit icon.

  3. Unselect the Enabled check box.