how-to · watch Open this in the console

Only tell them about a custom metric.

Alerts › rules. Kinds sit under the tags. Custom metric is one tick. None ticked still means every kind.

A custom-metric rule does not stop the hub from raising a disk or a downtime. It only decides which of those become a message. The metric itself is created on the machine.
01

Tick custom metric

Open Alerts › rules and press + rule. Under kinds, tick custom metric and leave the others clear. That kind is a POST that reported down, or a post that never arrived inside the grace. None ticked still means every kind. The address is typed and not added yet. Type and tags left empty cover every machine.

New alert rule with the custom metric kind ticked and an email address in the contact field
New rule with custom metric ticked. The address is not a contact yet.
02

Read the sentence, then add the rule

Press add contact. The grey sentence reads: tell email ops@example.com when a warning or worse (custom metric) opens on 6 machines in Example Co, and again when it resolves. Press add rule when that sentence is the one you want. This shot stops before that. A later edit of the same rule is Change an alert rule.

Rule editor with custom metric ticked, an email contact, and a preview that names custom metric
The sentence names custom metric and ops@example.com. Add rule saves it. Nothing has been saved in this shot.

A rule for every kind is Tell someone when a machine needs attention. A failing check is Only tell them about a failing check. A reboot is Only tell them about a reboot. Creating the URL a command posts to is Add a custom metric. A yes or no status is Add a yes or no custom metric. A script that starts when a metric goes down is Run a script only when a custom metric goes down.