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How alerting works

Alerting is on from your first server: the account gets a Default template and an Account email channel automatically, so a server going offline already sends you an email. Everything lives under Alerts in the dashboard, split into Incidents, Templates, and Channels.

As the Templates page puts it: “A template bundles alert rules, channels, and reminder policy. Each server follows one template (the account default unless assigned another).”

The Default template can’t be deleted, but you can edit it, duplicate it, or create more with New template and assign them per server. Its rule table has a row per rule type — 11 of 18 enabled out of the box:

Rule Threshold Window Notifications
Collector offline 10m 1
CPU usage 80% 1h 3
RAM usage 80% 1h 3
Disk usage 85% 1h 3
SMART health failed 3
Disk wearout 90% 3
New disk errors 3
Systemd unit failed 3
Systemd restart loop 3 restarts 30m 3
Container down 3
Container unhealthy 3

Seven more can be switched on per template: load averages (1m/5m/15m), CPU temperature, swap usage, and network inbound/outbound rates. Thresholds, windows, and per-rule notification counts are all editable in the template editor.

Rules are evaluated server-side every minute; an incident is created per server and rule.

  • Threshold rules (CPU, RAM, disk usage, …) need two consecutive breaching evaluations to fire and three clean ones to resolve, so a single spike doesn’t page you.
  • State rules (Collector offline, SMART health failed, Container down, …) fire on the first breaching observation and resolve on the first healthy one. Collector offline fires when the server hasn’t checked in for the rule’s window — 10 minutes by default, 5 at minimum.
  • An incident that resolves but breaches again within 15 minutes reopens instead of starting a new incident, so a flapping condition stays one line in your history.

When an incident fires, the template’s channels get a notification. The template editor states the reminder policy exactly:

Reminders repeat at this interval until a rule’s Notifications count is used up (the count includes the initial alert). Acknowledging an incident stops its reminders.

  • Remind every is per template (default 6h, minimum 30 minutes).
  • The Notifications count is per rule, 1–5 total including the initial alert. Collector offline defaults to 1 — a server going offline notifies once, not every 6 hours.
  • Notify when incidents resolve (on by default) sends a RESOLVED notification when the incident resolves — including for incidents you acknowledged.

Acknowledge from the Incidents page. It can’t be undone, and it only silences reminders — the incident stays open until the condition is actually gone.

Each server’s page has an Alerts card with two controls: Template (which template this server follows — “Account default” unless you pick another) and Mute alerts. Muting closes the server’s open incidents without notifying and stops evaluation entirely until you unmute.

Alerts → Incidents lists incidents with an Open / Resolved / All filter, 50 per page. Each row shows the incident’s state, the server, the alert description, when it started and resolved, and an Acknowledge action.

Incidents page showing an open Collector offline incident for server web-01

Notification delivery is a separate topic — where alerts go, testing a channel, and daily caps are covered in Notification channels.