Configuring notification settings for end-to-end monitoring

Set up email notifications and alert rules to receive timely updates about transaction errors, delays, and performance issues.

About this task

Notification alerts enable proactive monitoring by sending email notifications when specific conditions are met, such as transaction failures, response time thresholds, or error rate increases. You can configure mail server settings in the Monitoring Kubernetes resource and set up notification channels and alert rules through the Platform UI.

Configuring mail server settings in the Kubernetes resource

You can optionally configure mail server settings in the Monitoring Kubernetes resource to enable email notifications. This configuration allows you to specify the mail server details, sender and receiver addresses.

Before you begin

Ensure you have the following information:

Mail server host and port
Mail server protocol (smtp or smtps)
Mail server username and password
Sender email address
Receiver email addresses

Procedure

On the command line, create a Kubernetes secret that contains the mail server credentials in the same namespace where the Monitoring Kubernetes resource is deployed, for example:
```
apiVersion: v1
kind: Secret
metadata:
  name: mail-creds
type: Opaque
data:
  MAIL_SERVER_USERNAME: <base64_encoded_username>
  MAIL_SERVER_PASSWORD: <base64_encoded_password>
```
Replace <base64_encoded_username> and <base64_encoded_password> with your base64-encoded mail server credentials.
Add the mail configuration to your Monitoring Kubernetes resource in the spec.configurations.mailConfig section, for example:
```
apiVersion: integration.ibm.com/v1beta1
kind: Monitoring
metadata:
  name: e2em
spec:
  license:
    accept: true
  configurations:
    mailConfig:
      mailFrom: from-address@mail.com
      mailTo: "to-address1@mail.com,to-address2@mail.com"
      mailServerHost: smtp-server.endpoint
      mailServerPort: "465"
      mailServerProtocol: smtps
      mailServerSecretName: mail-creds
```
Update the following values as described:
- mailFrom: Sender email address
- mailTo: Comma-separated list of receiver email addresses
- mailServerHost: Mail server hostname or endpoint
- mailServerPort: Mail server port (typically 25 for smtp, 465 for smtps)
- mailServerProtocol: Protocol to use (smtp or smtps)
- mailServerSecretName: Name of the Kubernetes secret containing mail server credentials
Apply the updated Monitoring Kubernetes resource:
```
oc apply -f monitoring.yaml
```

Configuring notification channels and alert rules

After configuring the mail server settings, you can create transaction groups, notification channels, and alert rules through the end-to-end monitoring UI.

From the list of deployed instances on the Platform UI, click the end-to-end monitoring instance.
On the Dashboard page, click the Groups tab, then click Create group.
Enter a name for the group that you want to create.
Select or enter the details that align with your monitoring requirements, then click Save.
From the left navigation menu, click Alert, click the Rule list tab, then click Create rule.
Enter the general information, select the group that you created, then click Next.
Enter or select the conditions under which alerts must be triggered for the group.
Select how you want to be notified of a rule violation: email, in-app notification, or webhook. Click Next.
If you choose webhook, provide the webhook URL, any required authentication credentials, and the expected payload format for your webhook endpoint. Optionally, you can use a JSON schema to validate the alert payload before it is sent to external applications.
Review your rule settings, then click Save.

What to do next

Monitor alert frequency and adjust thresholds as needed.
Create additional notification channels for different teams.
Test email notifications to verify mail server configuration.