How to create/edit notifications, policies, and thresholds for Performance Monitors using Alert Center

How to configure notification alerts for Performance Monitors, such as CPU, Disk, Interface, or Memory Utilization based on Threshold values. How to edit and add new Thresholds to the Alert Center Libraries.

Mar 3, 2023
Knowledge

Title

URL Name

How-to-create-edit-notifications-policies-and-thresholds-in-Alert-Center

Article Number

000190047

Environment

Product: WhatsUp Gold Version: All supported versions OS: Windows Server

Question/Problem Description

How do I configure or edit performance monitoring alerts?
How to alert when a device’s disk is getting full?
How to receive an alert if a device’s CPU Utilization is high?
How to receive an alert if a device’s Memory Utilization is high?
How to receive an alert if a device’s RAM usage is high?
How to receive an alert if a device’s Interface Utilization is high?
How to receive an alert if a device’s Interface Discards are outside a threshold?
How do you remediate the alert that was just received for Passive Monitor Records Threshold?
How do I exclude devices from my Alert Center Thresholds?
How do I add or create a new Alert Center Threshold?
Can I change the percentage value at which WhatsUp Gold alerts for Disk, CPU, or Memory Utilization?

Steps to Reproduce

Clarifying Information

Alert Center Threshold Notifications should not be confused with the Actions and Action Policies used to indicate a device’s current Up or Down State. One way to note the difference between the two is that in WhatsUp Gold, Active Monitors utilize Actions and Action Policies while Performance Monitors utilize Notifications and Notification Policies.

If you are looking for information regarding notifications and alerts for when a device is Up or Down please see Configure and assign Action Policy

This article has been updated to reflect screenshots taken from version 2023 of WhatsUp Gold. Please Upgrade if you are running any version older than 2023. (November 2023)

Error Message

Defect Number

Enhancement Number

WUG-I-553

Cause

Resolution

NOTE: The below steps assume that monitoring for Performance Monitors with appropriate Credentials is already setup and gathering data. If you have not setup Performance Monitors for the corresponding Alert Center Threshold please do so first. For example, if you are going to setup the 'Performance Disk Utilization Exceeds...' threshold, the device(s) need to have the Disk Utilization Performance Monitor applied as well as the relevant Credential Type (Windows or SNMP) in order to gather that statistical data.

* Video Tutorials for this topic are available in the Notes section at the end of this article *

The Alert Center's primary function is to track and send "alerts" when thresholds are crossed for specific performance monitor items. There are default Thresholds in the alert center that will automatically query data for devices (for example, gathering disk utilization data). Any threshold in the Alert Center will trigger on the check time for the thresholds. Notifications are not set up by default and need to be added to the Thresholds where alerting is needed (email messaging).

When an Alert is sent the expectation is that issue be resolved quickly, and you can either manually acknowledge the out of threshold item in the Alert Center Dashboard, or you can have the Alert automatically resolve the issue when it is no longer out of threshold..

Accessing the Alert Center Library:

Select Settings > Actions & Alerts > Alert Center Libraries. The Alert Center Library window will appear.

You will no doubt notice that there are already several Thresholds already created. You can also add additional ones as needed. The scope of this article will focus primarily on creating a Notification using Performance Thresholds, but the basic steps are the same for any Alert Center Threshold. This article does not cover creating new Alert Center Thresholds, only the creation and application of Notifications and Notification Policies within an already created Alert Center Threshold.

Creating Notifications and Notification Policies

To get an alert from Alert Center, it requires that you add a Notification (email details), a Notification Policy (one or multiple Notifications), and assign the Notification to an existing or new threshold. Note the tabs along the top of the Alert Center Libraries window.

A close up of a screen Description automatically generated

A close up of a screen Description automatically generated

Create a Notification
1. Click on the Notification Tab
2. Click the plus icon to create a new Notification, and select Email Notification (*SMS, and SMS Direct have been retired as of version 2022.1 but you may still see them in the list). **As of version 2024.0 additional options have been added to the list of Notification Types . This article uses Email as the example
3. Select E-mail Action and click Ok. Fill out the information required for the E-mail Action to send successfully and click Save. Below you will see I created three Test Actions.
  
  NOTE: When creating an Email Action, the ‘Active and Passive Monitors' tab is only used by Active Monitors and Passive Monitors. The Alert Center tab will allow you configure the Subject line and some other information regarding the links in the body of the Notification, but the Notification content itself is hard coded to include a list of items out of threshold - the only content you can use Percent Variables for Alert Center is the Subject Line in the Alert Center Tab. **As of Version 2024.0 the Message Body for the Alert Center is now customizable .
Create a Notification Policy
1. Now that we have created an Email Action, we must apply this Notification to a Notification Policy.
2. Select the Notification Policy Tab, then click the plus icon to create a new Notification Policy.
3. Give the new Notation Policy a Name and optional Description
4. We can now begin adding Escalation Steps to the Policy and assign a Notification to those steps. Click the plus symbol to add steps. We will start with adding Step 1. (More information how Escalation Steps work is discussed later in this article)
5. Select which Notification should be used for this Step. In this example, we have selected to create Step 1 and since there is only one Notification to choose from we will select that Notification by checking the box next to it. Once selected click OK. (Note that you can also select a Blackout Policy for the Notification Step here. Blackout Policies will be described later in this article)
6. Click Save to save the Policy
Create Blackout Policy (optional)
1. Blackout Policies are only configured if you want to halt alerts during a certain period, such as weekends or outside of normal work hours.
2. Click on the Blackout Policies Tab, then on the plus icon to create a new Blackout Policy
3. Use you mouse to select blocks that correspond with times you do not wish there to be Notifications sent from Alert Center (you can hold and drag the mouse cursor to select multiple blocks at one time). This example shows a Blackout period that would prevent Notifications except during the period of 8:00am to 5:00pm Monday – Friday. Note that the time zone is determined by the time zone on the Windows Server where WhatsUp Gold is installed. Click Save once you are done.
4. If desired, you can add the Blackout Policy to one of the Steps in the Notification Policy.
  1. Go to the Notification Policy Tab.
  2. Select the Policy and click the pencil icon to edit.
  3. Select the Notification Step and click the pencil icon to edit.
  4. Choose the Blackout Policy from the dropdown menu next to the Notification you want to Blackout.

Using Escalation Steps: What they are and what is their intended use?

When creating the Notification Policy above, you will have noticed that there were options for Step 1, Step 2, and Step 3. Step 2 and Step 3 of course are optional. **As of Version 2024, there is now also an Auto-Resolve Step so that you can configure a notification to be triggered when a device comes back into threshold.

These are referred to as “Escalation Steps” and are used to send additional Notifications when one or more Devices still have something outside of parameters for a given Threshold, for example a Disk being above 95% Utilization.

These additional Steps can be used to remind the original email recipient(s) that the issue still exists or be used to inform others that the issue exists, essentially “escalating” to the next level. For example, a Notification is sent to the WUG Administrator to alert that a Device has a Disk that is 95% or more full. Then an hour later, if this Device is still out of threshold for Disk Utilization Step 2 is sent to remind the WUG Administrator, and send an additional notification to another person or group. Then, if necessary 2 hours after the original Notification, Step 3 is sent to remind everyone that the issue persists.

From the Alert Center Library, select the Notification Policy Tab (See step 2b under Creating Notifications and Notification Policies above).
Select the Notification Policy you wish to edit then click the pencil icon to Edit (alternatively you could also create a new Policy if desired).
Once the Edit window appears, click the plus icon to add a new step and select which Step you want to, for example Step 2
In the window for this new step, select which Notification(s) should be included in this Escalation Step and how soon after Step 1 was sent to send this Step. In this example, we have selected to include both the same Notification from Step 1 as well as add an additional Notification which is configured to include additional recipients and to send this additional Step 1 hour after Step 1 was sent. Click OK to add it to the Policy.
Click Save to save the Policy with this new step added.
Optionally, you can then Edit the Policy again to add Step 3. Note that Step 3 will also include an option to Repeat Step 3 on a configurable interval.
1. Note that the options in both Steps 2 and 3 for "This step begins X [Minutes/Hours/Days] after the notification starts" is based on when Step 1 began, so it is best practice for Step 3 to be configured at a later time to begin than Step 2 or else they will both be sent at the same time. In our example, Step 2 begins 1 hour after Step 1, and Step 3 begins 2 hours after Step 1 which would be 1 hour after Step 2.
2. Only Step 3 has an option to be repeated as it is the last Escalation Step. Also be advised that this repeat action is stored in memory so any reboot of the server or restart of services will cause the repeat action to halt.

**Version 2024 and later also has an Auto-Resolve Step so that you can configure a notification to be triggered when a device comes back into threshold.

Adding A Notification Policy To A Threshold for Alerting

Once you have created Notifications and Notification Policies, you can now apply those to any Alert Center Thresholds for which you may which to be alerted if it is out of threshold parameters.

For example, you have Devices that WhatsUp Gold polls for Disk Utilization statistics and you want to be notified if the Disk Utilization reaches a certain percentage of use.

From the Alert Center Libraries (Settings > Actions & Alerts > Alert Center Libraries) Select the Thresholds Tab.
Select the Threshold you wish to Edit then click the pencil icon to Edit the Threshold. For this example, we will use the Performance Disk Utilization Exceeds 95% Threshold.
In the Edit Threshold window, select the Notification Policy from the dropdown menu to apply the desired Notification Policy to the Threshold. It is also recommended that the “Automatically resolve items no longer out of threshold” is selected so that once a device returns to being under threshold the notifications will stop if additional Escalation Steps are part of the Notification Policy.
Click Save
This procedure is the same with any other threshold in the Alert Center Libraries.

Removing A Notification Policy From A Threshold So It No Longer Alerts

If you no longer want to receive notification alerts for a particular Threshold, you need to se the Notification Policy option for the Threshold to “(No Policy”); note that this is the default for new Thresholds.

From the Alert Center Libraries (Settings > Actions & Alerts > Alert Center Libraries) Select the Thresholds Tab.
Select the Threshold you wish to Edit then click the pencil icon to Edit the Threshold. For this example, we will use the Performance Disk Utilization Exceeds 95% Threshold
In the Edit Threshold window, select “(No Policy)” from the dropdown menu to remove the Notification Policy from the Threshold.
Click Save
This procedure is the same with any other threshold in the Alert Center Libraries.

Editing Existing Alert Center Thresholds For Customization

The Alert Center Libraries already include several ready-made Thresholds commonly used. However, you may wish to alert at different levels than the build in Thresholds have configured. This section covers how to Edit and existing Threshold to monitor for values more suitable for your environment.

From the Alert Center Libraries (Settings > Actions & Alerts > Alert Center Libraries) Select the Thresholds Tab.
Select the Threshold you wish to Edit then click the pencil icon to Edit the Threshold. For this example, we will use the Performance Disk Utilization Exceeds 95% Threshold
In the Edit Threshold window, you will see several options. Some of these, (Notification Policy, Threshold check interval, ‘Automatically resolve items no longer out of threshold’, and Duration) will be present for all Thresholds. Individual Thresholds will have other settings depending on what type of Threshold it is. For example, the Threshold for Disk Utilization includes settings for the ‘Disk (average)’ level for which you wish to monitor as well as an option for including/excluding specific drives/partitions.
What do the different options mean/do?
1. Notification Policy: This drop-down menu allows you to select which, if any, Notification Policy to the Threshold as discussed earlier in this article.
2. Threshold Check Interval: This determines how often this should be checked. The default is 60 minutes. NOTE: Please make sure to review the Tool Tip by hovering your mouse over the for more information as it is recommended that the Check Interval should never be set less than the Polling Interval for the monitor gathering the data. For example, Performance Monitors have a default of 10 minutes for their polling cycle.
3. Automatically resolve items no longer out of threshold: Selecting this option will allow an Notification Escalation Steps or Repeat Action to stop automatically once the Threshold falls back below the configured parameters. This is a recommended setting and is selected by default.
4. Duration: This defines how long the item should be outside of the configured parameters. For example, for Disk Utilization a Device would have to indicate having one or more disks/partitions over 95% full for more than 4 hours as seen in the above screenshot.
5. Specific Thresholds will have other parameters specific to them based on the information they gather. To see more information for a particular Threshold in the Online Help, click on the Help (?) icon in that threshold.
If you wish to change any of the parameters, you may do so as needed. Again, please make sure to mouse over the when available for additional information, examples, or recommendations for that setting.
Select devices for which the Threshold should apply. The Default is already set to “All” so if you do not wish to limit what devices this applies to, then just Save the Threshold after step 5.
1. Click on the Applied Devices Tab
2. From here you can Select Device Groups, or individual Devices to Exclude or Include for the Threshold.
  1. Exclude a Device/Device Group – Check the box next to “Exclude devices” then select the Device/Device Group you want to Exclude. This is helpful for when you have a small sub-set of devices you do not want included but otherwise want all other Devices to still alert for this Threshold. For example, you may want to be alerted for all devices except one (or one group).
  2. Only apply to specific devices – Select the radio button next to “Apply this threshold to specific devices”. This option is useful for when the set of Devices you want to alert for with this Threshold is a sub-set of all devices being monitored. For example, you may only want to be alerted for a single device or a specific device group but not all devices.
Click Save

**SPECIAL NOTE on Disk Utilization Threshold: Earlier versions of WhatsUp Gold had a limitation that caused all monitored performance objects (aspects) for Disk Utilization would trigger alerts for a configured Threshold with no way to exclude specific performance objects (e.g., the System Reserved partition was included along with C:\, D:\, et cetera). In those earlier versions, the only way to exclude them from being included in an Alert Center Notification was to disable them for monitoring which was not necessarily desired – that is to say, administrators wanted to still be able to view all disks/partitions in Dashboards and Reports, but just not receive emails except for specific disk(s)/partition(s).

In WhatsUp Gold version 2021.1 an option was added in the Disk Utilization Thresholds called "Disk with names matching the regular expression" which allows the use of RegEx to limit notifications to only trigger for only specific drives. This allows for alerting on only certain disks/partitions without having to disable monitoring for them as was the case in earlier versions.

Example: ^[cC]:\\ would match for only the C:\ drive.

A screenshot of a computer Description automatically generated

A screenshot of a computer Description automatically generated

Adding A New Alert Center Threshold

The Alert Center Libraries already include several ready-made Thresholds commonly used. However, you may wish to create your own or create Threshold based on other WhatsUp Gold Features/Monitors that are not in the precreated list. This section covers how to add a new Threshold to the Alert Center Libraries.

From the Alert Center Libraries (Settings > Actions & Alerts > Alert Center Libraries) Select the Thresholds Tab.
Click the plus icon to add a new Threshold. The “Select Threshold Type” window will appear.
Click on the Threshold you want to add, the click the Select button to open the Add/Edit window for that Threshold.
Configure the Threshold as desired based on the examples given earlier in this article for editing a threshold.
Don’t forget that the question mark Icon in the upper right of the window of any Threshold can be clicked on to get to the Online Help document for that specific Threshold.

Workaround

Notes

Regarding the comment about "Mail Content" not being customizable for Alert center (Step 1c under Creating Notifications and Notification Policies), please see the following Enhancement Request. - https://whatsupgold.ideas.aha.io/ideas/WUG-I-553

Video Tutorials

Configuring Alert Thresholds in WhatsUp Gold

Configuring Alert Notifications and Policies in WhatsUp Gold

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9/5/2024 8:36 PM

How to create/edit notifications, policies, and thresholds for Performance Monitors using Alert Center

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