Notification Channels & Alert Configuration
Alerts tell you when an integration needs attention, without anyone having to watch a dashboard. Each alert watches one application for one kind of activity and emails a notification channel when its condition is met.
Alerting is set up in two places in Studio:
| What | Where | Scope |
|---|---|---|
| Notification channels: who receives the email | Settings > Organization > Channels | Shared by every workspace in the organization |
| Alerts, application digests, and alert history | Settings > Workspace > Alerts | The current workspace |
Create the channel first. An alert cannot be saved without one.
Before you begin
- To create or edit channels, you need the Admin or User role. Channels is not shown to other roles.
- The application you want to watch is active in the workspace, and its workflows use the activity the alert type monitors. See Choose an alert type.
Create a notification channel
A notification channel is a named list of email addresses. Alerts refer to a channel by name, so when you change who is in the channel, every alert that uses it follows.
- Select Settings > Organization > Channels.
- Select Create Channel. The Create Notification Channel drawer opens.
- Enter a Channel Name. Names must be unique.
- In Channel Type, select Email. Email is the only channel type.
- In Email Recipients, enter an address and press Enter. Tab, a comma, a semicolon, or a space also adds it. Pasting a list of addresses adds them all.
- Select Save.
The Channels table lists each channel's Name, Type, and Recipients. To change one, select its name or select Edit from the row's More options menu. To remove one, select Delete from the same menu and confirm in the Delete Notification Channel dialog.
Choose an alert type
The type is chosen in Scheduler Type, and it decides what the alert watches and which applications you can pick. The Application Name list shows only active applications with at least one workflow that uses the matching activity.
| Type | Watches | Applications offered | Condition |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scheduler | Metrics from scheduled runs | A workflow triggered by the Schedule event source | A threshold on a metric |
| Batch | Metrics from batch runs | A workflow that uses InitBatch | A threshold on a metric |
| REST Client | HTTP error responses from outbound API calls | A workflow that uses RESTClient, or a custom activity built from it | Chosen error codes within an active window |
| SFTP | SFTP file transfer failures | A workflow that uses an SFTP file activity | Failures within an active window |
| ABS | Azure Blob Storage file transfer failures | A workflow that uses an ABS file activity | Failures within an active window |
Scheduler and Batch alerts have three steps. REST Client, SFTP, and ABS alerts have two, because they have no repeat-notification settings.
Create an alert
- Select Settings > Workspace > Alerts. The Alert Configuration tab opens.
- Select Create Alert. The Alert Configuration drawer opens.
- Complete Basic Info.
- Complete Set Alert Conditions for the type you chose.
- For a Scheduler or Batch alert, complete Notification Settings, or leave it off.
- Select Save.
Basic info
| Field | Applies to | What to enter |
|---|---|---|
| Alert Name | All types | A name unique in the workspace. |
| Scheduler Type | All types | Scheduler, Batch, REST Client, SFTP, or ABS. Changing it clears an application that no longer qualifies. |
| Application Name | All types | The application to watch. |
| Aggregation Function | Scheduler, Batch | How the metric is calculated: count(), min(), max(), sum(), or avg(). |
| Span Scope | Scheduler, Batch | Which spans are measured: All Spans, Root Spans, or Entry Point Spans. |
Conditions for Scheduler and Batch alerts
The Threshold condition reads as a sentence. The drawer opens with these values selected:
Send a notification when EQUAL TO the threshold(s) IN TOTAL during the last 10 minutes, critical on value = threshold, send to channels
Set each part:
| Part | Options |
|---|---|
| Comparison | ABOVE, BELOW, EQUAL TO, or NOT EQUAL TO |
| How the threshold must be met | AT LEAST ONCE, ALL THE TIME, ON AVERAGE, IN TOTAL, or LAST |
| Evaluation window | See the next table. |
| Severity | critical, warning, or info |
| Threshold | The number to compare against. Required. The unit is fixed as Unit. |
| Channels | One or more notification channels. Required. |
The default comparison is EQUAL TO, so an alert saved without changing it fires only on an exact match. For "fewer than" or "more than", select BELOW or ABOVE.
The evaluation window has two kinds:
| Evaluation Window | Timeframe options | How it counts |
|---|---|---|
| Rolling | Last 5 minutes, Last 10 minutes, Last 15 minutes, Last 30 minutes, Last 1 hour, Last 2 hours, Last 4 hours, or Custom with a value and a unit of Seconds, Minutes, Hours, or Days | A fixed-length window that moves forward continuously |
| Cumulative | Current hour, Current day, or Current month | Grows from a fixed starting point: the Starting At Minute of each hour, the Starting At time of each day, or the Starting On Day of each month, in the selected timezone |
Expand ADVANCED OPTIONS for three more settings:
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| How often to check | How often the alert evaluates its data. The form starts at 30 minutes; the unit can be seconds, minutes, or hours. |
| Alert when data stops coming | When on, notifies if no data arrives for the number of minutes you enter. Off by default. |
| Minimum data required | When on, the alert fires only when at least the number of Datapoints you enter are present. Off by default. |
Conditions for REST Client, SFTP, and ABS alerts
These alerts watch for failures during an active window instead of a metric threshold.
| Field | What to enter |
|---|---|
| Active Window Start and Active Window End | The daily window in which failures are watched, as HH:mm. Defaults to 00:00 to 23:59. |
| Active Days | The days the alert is active. All seven are selected by default; Select All and Clear All are in the list. At least one is required. |
| Timezone | Asia/Kolkata or UTC. Defaults to Asia/Kolkata. |
| Enabled | On by default. |
| Error Codes | REST Client only. One or more of 400, 401, 403, 404, 405, 409, 415, 422, 500, 502, 503, 504. At least one is required. |
| Notification Channels | One or more notification channels. Required. |
Notification settings
For Scheduler and Batch alerts, Repeat notifications sends periodic notifications while the alert condition remains active. It is off by default. When you turn it on, set how often to repeat and in which states: Firing, No Data, or both.
Manage alerts
The Alert Configuration tab lists alerts with Alert Name, Scheduler Type, Channels, Status, History, and Action columns.
- The Inactive / Active switch above the table chooses which alerts are listed. Search alerts filters by name.
- To edit, select the alert name, or select Edit from the More options menu. The Edit Alert Configuration drawer opens.
- To pause an alert without deleting it, select Deactivate from the menu. Select Activate to resume it.
- To delete, select Delete and confirm in the Delete Alert dialog. Deletion cannot be undone.
Review alert history
Select the History icon on an alert's row to see that alert's past runs.
The summary shows Failures, Warnings, Skipped, and Total Runs. The table lists Date & Time, Event, Description, Status, Notification, and Acknowledged. By default it shows All Runs from the Last 30 days. Filter it to Errors, Warnings, or Skipped, or to the Last 7 days or Last 90 days.
- Select Acknowledge on a row to record that someone has seen it.
- Select Download to save the current rows as a CSV file.
Select Alert Configuration in the breadcrumb to return to the list.
Set up an application digest
An application digest is a scheduled summary of an application's integration metrics, emailed to one or more channels. It is configured separately for each application.
- Select Settings > Workspace > Alerts > Application Digest. Every active application is listed, with Not configured in Status until it has a digest.
- Select Set up on the application's row. The Configure Digest drawer opens.
- Turn on Enable Digest.
- Select a Report Frequency, from 1 day to 30 days.
- Select one or more Destination Channels.
- Select Save Digest.
To change or remove a digest, use Edit or Delete in the row's More options menu. Turning off Enable Digest keeps the settings but stops the digest; the row then shows Inactive.
How you know it worked
- A new channel appears in the Channels table, and Studio reports Notification channel created successfully.
- A new alert appears in the Alert Configuration table with ACTIVE status, and Studio reports Alert configured successfully.
- A new digest shows Active in the Application Digest table, and Studio reports Application digest configured successfully.
To prove the whole chain works, make the condition happen in a test environment, then confirm the email reaches the channel and the run appears in the alert's history.
When it does not work
| Symptom | Cause | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Channels is missing from Settings > Organization | Your role cannot manage channels | Ask an administrator to create the channel |
| No channels are offered in Notification Channels or Destination Channels | No notification channel exists yet | Create a notification channel, then reopen the drawer |
| The application you want is not in Application Name | The application is inactive, or none of its workflows uses the activity for the selected Scheduler Type | Check the alert type against Choose an alert type |
| Alert name already exists or Channel name already exists | Names must be unique | Choose another name |
| Please add at least one email address | Email Recipients is empty | Add an address and press Enter |
| Please select at least one error code or Please select at least one active day | A required list on a REST Client, SFTP, or ABS alert is empty | Select at least one |
| Failed to create alert, or a message from the server | Studio could not save the alert | Check the fields and try again. If it persists, contact your administrator. |
| The alert saves but never fires | The comparison or threshold does not match what you meant; EQUAL TO is the default | Edit the alert, check the comparison and threshold, and look at its history |
Next steps
- Configuring Alerts and Notifications shows how to create the same channels and alerts by asking NxAgent.
- Investigating Integration Health helps you find what went wrong after an alert fires.