Documentation forWeb Performance Monitor

Configure WPM alerts

An alert is an automated notification that a network event occurred, such as a server becoming unresponsive. The network event that triggers an alert is determined by conditions set up when the alert was created.

You can add alerts for any object in your environment, including WPM transaction locations, transactions, and transaction steps. For example, you can create custom alerts that are triggered if a transaction location is unavailable for more than ten minutes, or a specific step takes too long.

In addition to creating alerts, this section includes the following topics:

To learn more about alerts, see:

Create alerts

The following procedure shows how to quickly set up a simple alert and assumes that default alert actions are already configured in the SolarWinds Platform Web Console.

  1. Click Alerts & Activity > Alerts.
  2. On the top right of the All Alerts page, click Manage Alerts.
  3. On the Alert Manager tab, click Add New Alert.
  4. Enter a Name and Description for the alert and click Next.
  5. Select the object type you want to use to trigger this alert from the "I want to alert on" drop-down list. For WPM purposes, this will likely be player location, transaction, or transaction step.
  6. Set the scope of the alert. You can either apply it to all objects of this type or set up conditions to specify a set of objects.
  7. Create the trigger condition that must be true or false to trigger the alert. You can create complex triggers using multiple AND/OR/NOT conditions, if required. A simple example trigger would be:

      8. Object type: Location

      Field: Status

      Condition: is equal to

      Value: Down

  8. Click Next.
  9. Leave the Reset Condition as is and click Next.
  10. Leave the Time of Day as is and click Next.
  11. Enter the message that you want to be displayed on the Alert widget and Alert details page when this alert is triggered.
  12. To use variables in your message, such as Connection Status, Host Name or Transaction ID, position the cursor where you want to insert it and click Insert Variable.
    1. Select the type of variable you want to insert and how to group them from the drop-down lists on the left. You can display Global variables, Alert variables, or those specific to Locations, Step Requests, Transactions, or Transaction Steps. The alert variables specific to each WPM object are listed in WPM alert variables. Global Variables and variables for other SolarWinds Platform modules are listed in the SolarWinds Platform Administrator Guide.
    2. The "Select variables to insert" popup window is displayed.
    3. Select the variable or variables you want to insert. When you select a variable, the SWIS code appears. See Use the SolarWinds Query Language for details.
    4. Click Insert Variable to insert the selected variable(s) into your message.

    You can add more trigger actions such as sending email, playing a sound, executing an external program, or sending a GET or POST request to a web server.

  13. Click Next.
  14. Leave the Reset Action as it is and click Next.
  15. Scroll to the bottom of the Summary and click Submit.

To learn about adding screenshots to WPM alerts, see Include a screenshot in an email alert for a failed transaction step.

View alerts

When set up, alerts only appear in the SolarWinds Platform Web Console if they are active. Active Alerts are shown on the Home > Alerts view, on the Active Alerts widget and, in the case of transaction alerts, on the Active Transaction Alerts widget.

Click an alert name to open the Active Alert Details page for an alert.

Acknowledge alerts

On the Alerts & Activity > Alerts page in the SolarWinds Platform Web Console, each active Alert has an Acknowledge button in the Acknowledged by column. Click Acknowledge to halt any further escalation actions for an alert and enter any relevant information as a note.

Add alert widgets to a view

To add the All Active Alerts or Active Transaction Alerts widget to a view:

  1. Go to the View to which you want to add this widget and click Customize Page.
  2. Click + by the column to which you want to add the widget.
  3. Check Active Alerts or Active Transaction Alerts in the widget name column and click Add Selected Widgets.
  4. Click Done.
  5. Click the Edit button for the widget you just added.
  6. Change the Title and add a Subtitle, if required.
  7. To display alerts that were already acknowledged check the Show Acknowledge Alerts box. Otherwise, those alerts remain hidden.
  8. Click Submit.