SMTP Alerting
Configuration options
- Test this alert
- Pressing this button will simulate a triggered alert and send both up and and down messages in succession to all :ref:
alertdestinationsdefined for the alert. - Alert Destinations
- The recipients of this alert. Click Manage Alert Destinations to modify, remove, or add destinations.
- Alert Timeout
- The system will trigger an alert when there is no response activity for this many minutes.
- Down Only
- Messages are sent only when the alert is initially triggered (Server Down) and will send no message when the server is responsive again. This can be useful if there are many alerts configured for different timeouts and multiple UP alerts are not needed.
- Repeat Alert
- If selected the DOWN message will be repeated on an increasing interval until the system receives responses to test messages again. For example: A 10 minute alert that triggers at 03:00 will send additional down messages at 03:10, 03:30, 04:10, 05:30, etc… Doubling the time between down alerts (10, 20, 40, 80 minutes). Only one up alert will be sent unless the Down Only option is selected, then none will be sent.
- Subject Down
- Subject of the message to be sent when the monitor is considered DOWN
- Message body - Down
- Any additional text to be included with the down message. In an email this will become the body of the message. For voice and SMS alerts this will simply be appended to the subject.
- Subject Up
- Subject of the message to be sent when the monitor is considered UP
- Message body - Up
- Any extra text needed for the message body. Same as above.
How are alerts triggered?
Rather than alert on individual message delay, Knowledge Front’s unique alerting system is based on a period of inactivity. Every minute, the system checks the last time we heard from your server (by checking the Time Received). Based on your Alert Timeout setting, the system triggers a down alert if your Timeout period has been exceeded. As soon as we get a response (to any outstanding test message) our monitoring network recognizes that your system must be up, and will trigger an up alert. Adjusting your alert settings is a matter adjusting either your Test Frequency or your Alert Timeout - or both. If we send Test Messages more frequently, we should be receiving responses more frequently.