Notification rules

A Notification rule chooses which events reach which Channels. It reaches only the Monitors it is added to, on each Monitor’s Messages tab: see How notifications work.

Writing a rule

In Project settings, open the Rules tab and press Add a rule. To change a rule, choose Edit in its menu.

• Name: what the rule is called, such as “On call”. No two rules in a Project share a name.
• Send to: the Channels the rule sends to. Choose at least one.
• Remind me every: how often an outage is said again while nobody acknowledges it.
• Advanced: the events the rule sends, and Send warnings during an outage.

Then press Add the rule.

Choosing events

Under Advanced, Events lists every event, grouped by Check. A new rule has every box ticked. Untick the events this rule should not send. At least one must stay ticked.

While every box stays ticked, the rule also sends the events we add later. Once you untick one, the rule sends only the events that are ticked.

The line beside Advanced says what the rule sends, such as “Uptime: down, back up”.

Repeat alerts

While an outage stays open and nobody acknowledges it, the rule says it again. Under Remind me every, choose Off, or every 30 minutes, 1 hour, 3 hours or 6 hours. A new rule reminds every 1 hour.

A rule reminds at most 5 times about one outage. Each reminder goes to every Channel the rule names.

Acknowledging the outage stops the reminders at once, and you still hear when it ends. You can acknowledge in the dashboard, or from the alert itself without signing in: see The links in an alert.

What a long outage costs

A message to a phone, by SMS or WhatsApp, spends credits, and so does each reminder. An outage that stays open sends each phone up to 7 messages: the alert, 5 reminders and the recovery. When a rule names a phone, the editor shows under Remind me every what that comes to in credits. To spend less, remind less often, or choose Off.

A rule that texts a phone must also email someone, so a missed text is never the only alert. Phones are never sent warnings, so a rule that sends only warnings cannot name a phone.

Warnings during an outage

While a Monitor is down, a warning about it, such as a slow answer or a certificate that expires soon, waits until the outage is over. Most people want to hear about the outage alone.

To hear warnings during an outage too, turn on Send warnings during an outage under Advanced. The switch is part of each rule, so you can send them to the Inbox and not to a phone. When warnings arrive says when a warning is sent.

Two rules that name one Channel

When two of a Monitor’s rules name the same Channel, that Channel gets one message, never two. It hears every event that either rule sends, it is reminded at the shorter of the two choices, and it hears warnings during an outage if either rule asks for them.

In the same way, an email address that is in two email Channels gets one email.