Administration Guide

Adding Alerts

This article describes how to create alerts in Alloy Discovery from scratch.

INFO: For general information about alerts, see Setting Up Alerts.

To create an alert:

  1. In the Settings App, navigate to Services > alerts.

  2. Click New. The New alert Wizard starts and the Welcome page opens.

  3. Click Next to bring up the alert Name and Type page.

  4. Type in an alert name, choose its type from the Type list, and click Next. For a Conflict Detected alert, proceed to step 6. Otherwise, proceed to the next Step.

    INFO: For available alert types, see Setting Up Alerts.

  5. On the Alert Condition page, specify a condition:

    • For an Object Change alert:

      1. Choose an object to track. This can be a hardware component, such as "CPU" or "Memory Module," or software object such as "Installed Product," "Shared Resource," or "Operating System."

      2. Choose a condition that will trigger the alert (added or removed). If you want to trigger the alert when the object is detected on a newly discovered computer, select the detected condition.

        For example, you may create the following condition:

        Notify when a Memory Module was added or removed

    • For an Attribute Value alert:

      1. Choose the hardware or software component's attribute for the condition.

      2. Choose a condition from the list.

        Some conditions let you compare the attribute with another value (such as: equals, is less than, begins with, etc.), others simply check the attribute (such as: is blank, is not blank, has any value, etc.).

      3. If the condition requires a value for comparison, type it in the text field. For example:

        Notify when CPU.Frequency is less than 1.8

        NOTE: Alloy Discovery measures CPU frequency in gigahertz (GHz).

      4. By default, Alloy Discovery checks the attribute every time computers are audited, and triggers the alert whenever the value meets the condition. If you want to generate the alert only when the value meets the condition AND has changed since the previous audit, select the Generate notification only if the audit attribute has changed check box.

        NOTE: You may want to trigger the alert whenever the attribute value is changed, regardless of its value. In this case, use the has any value condition and select the Generate notification only if the audit attribute has changed check box.

    • For a Free Disk Space alert:

      • Specify the disk you want to track, and enter the threshold value as a percentage of the disk's total space. For example:

        Notify when the free space on disk <system> is less than 50 percent

    • For a Memory Size alert:

      • Select the condition for checking the RAM size and enter the threshold in megabytes. For example:

        Notify when the RAM size is greater or equal to 3072 megabytes

    • For a Software Product Change alert:

      1. Choose a condition that will trigger the alert (installed or uninstalled). If you want to detect the presence of a software product, select the exists condition.

      2. If you want to detect installations or uninstallations of any software product, click Any software.

      3. If you want the alert to be triggered only when the software product belongs to a specific software group, click Software from the group and choose a group from the drop-down list.

        INFO: For details, see Classification of Software Products.

      4. If you want the alert to be triggered on a particular product, click Specific software and type in the product name. In addition, if you want to track a specific version, click Specific version and type in the version number.

        For example:

        Notify when the following software exists

        Specific software: Alloy Navigator

        Specific version: 2022.2

    • For a UAC alert:

      • Select the UAC state that will trigger the alert.

        NOTE: The UAC alert generates notifications only when UAC is supported by the operating system of the audited computer.

        For example:Notify when UAC is OFF

    • For a Hardware Change alert:

      • Choose one or several hardware configuration changes that will trigger the alert.

        For example:

        Notify when: Display Adapter has changed OR Monitor has changed

    • For a Network Settings Change alert:

      • Choose one or several changes to a computer’s network settings that will trigger the alert.

        For example:

        Notify when:
        Network Adapter added or removed OR IP Address has changed OR DNS Name has changed

    Click Next. The Options page opens.

  6. By default, Alloy Discovery generates alerts every time the Inventory Server processes an audit snapshot, if the snapshot’s data satisfies the triggering condition. This means that multiple frequent audits of the same computer will generate the same alert multiple times, as long as the triggering condition remains true. If you want to reduce the frequency of alerts from a single computer, specify the notification interval to keep identical alerts further apart.

    NOTE: If you do not want Alloy Discovery to send repetitive alerts about the same event, select Once.

    Click Next to bring up the E-mail Notification page.

  7. Specify the notification details as follows:

    1. If you have configured the default sender's e-mail address, the From field is initialized with that default. Otherwise, the System defaults (Empty) is displayed.

      INFO: For details, see Configuring Email Settings.

      You can keep the default value or enter a different address.

    2. Enter recipient addresses in the To, CC, or BCC fields. If you want to specify several addresses in one field, separate them with a comma or semicolon.

    3. Review the subject template in the Subject field and change it, if needed. Use the Insert Placeholder button to insert macros containing dynamic values.

      INFO: For details, see Alert Macros.

    4. Review the message template in the Body field and change it, if needed. Use the Insert Placeholder button to insert macros containing dynamic values.

      INFO: For details, see Alert Macros.

    5. Click Next. The Ready to Create New alert page opens.

  8. Review your settings and click Next to proceed. The new alert is created, and the alert Created page opens.

  9. Click Finish to close the wizard.