How to Email a Custom Alert (Part 2)

By: Gary Monk

In my first post in this blog series, I covered how you can create a new alert based on a super metric. The new alert will work like any other alert and is based on a newly created symptom that we created. In this blog post, I will provide insight into two additional steps — Configure the Standard Email Plugin and Create a Notification — to finalize your custom alert.

Configure the Standard Email Plugin

1.     Navigate to administration, outbound settings
2.     Click on the green plus sign to bring up the add/edit outbound instance window
3.     Select “Standard Email Plugin” for the plugin type
4.     Provide an instance name (in this example, I am configuring a Gmail account so I called it “Gmail”)
5.     Check the Use Secure Connection box
6.     Check the Requires Authentication box
7.     Enter the SMTP Host for Gmail
8.     Enter the Gmail port for SMTP (the port will depend on the Secure Connection Type you choose)
9.     Select from the dropdown the Secure Connection Type
10.  Enter the email address that the alert will be sent from
11.  Enter the password for the above email address (if you are using a Gmail account with two-step authentication, remember to create an application password and use it in place of your normal password)
12.  Enter the sender email address (this is the email address that appears on the notification message)
13.  Enter the sender name
14.  Click on the Test button to ensure that everything was entered correctly
15.  Click on the Save button to save the outbound instance

Create a Notification

1.     Navigate to content, notifications
2.     Click on the green plus sign to open the “Add Rule” window
3.     Enter a name for the notification
4.     Select the notification method of “Standard Email Plugin” from the “Select Plug-in Type” dropdown
5.     Additional boxes will appear after selecting the plug-in type
6.     Select the “Gmail” instance that we created above in the “Select Instance” dropdown
7.     Enter the email addresses of the DBAs that will receive the alert email in recipient(s)
8.     In the Filtering Criteria:
   •     Select “Alert Definition” in the Notification Trigger dropdown
   •     Click on “Select an Alert Definition”
   •     Find the alert definition that you created in step “Create Alert Definition”.
   •     Click on the select button
9.     Click on the save button

We have completed all of the required tasks to email a custom alert. For more information on alerts, check out these resources:

• Defining Symptoms for Alerts
• Alert Definitions
• Add Stand Email Plugin
• Create a Notification

This blog post first appeared on the VMware Cloud Management blog. Read the full post here.