Using the Ceph Manager alerts module

You can use the Ceph Manager alerts module to send simple alert messages about the IBM Storage Ceph cluster’s health by email.

Note: This module is not intended to be a robust monitoring solution. The fact that it is run as part of the Ceph cluster itself is fundamentally limiting in that a failure of the ceph-mgr daemon prevents alerts from being sent. This module can, however, be useful for standalone clusters that exist in environments where existing monitoring infrastructure does not exist.

Prerequisites

A running IBM Storage Ceph cluster.
Root-level access to the Ceph Monitor node.

Procedure

Log into the cephadm shell:

Example
```
[root@host01 ~]# cephadm shell
```

Enable the alerts module:

Example

[ceph: root@host01 /]# ceph mgr module enable alerts

Ensure the alerts module is enabled:

Example

[ceph: root@host01 /]# ceph mgr module ls | more
{
    "always_on_modules": [
        "balancer",
        "crash",
        "devicehealth",
        "orchestrator",
        "pg_autoscaler",
        "progress",
        "rbd_support",
        "status",
        "telemetry",
        "volumes"
    ],
    "enabled_modules": [
        "alerts",
        "cephadm",
        "dashboard",
        "iostat",
        "prometheus",
        "restful"
    ]

Configure the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP):

Syntax

ceph config set mgr mgr/alerts/smtp_host SMTP_SERVER
ceph config set mgr mgr/alerts/smtp_destination RECEIVER_EMAIL_ADDRESS
ceph config set mgr mgr/alerts/smtp_sender SENDER_EMAIL_ADDRESS

Example

[ceph: root@host01 /]# ceph config set mgr mgr/alerts/smtp_host smtp.example.com
[ceph: root@host01 /]# ceph config set mgr mgr/alerts/smtp_destination example@example.com
[ceph: root@host01 /]# ceph config set mgr mgr/alerts/smtp_sender example2@example.com

Optional: By default, the alerts module uses SSL and port 465.

Syntax
```
ceph config set mgr mgr/alerts/smtp_port PORT_NUMBER
```
Example
```
[ceph: root@host01 /]# ceph config set mgr mgr/alerts/smtp_port 587
```
Do not set the smtp_ssl parameter while configuring alerts.

Authenticate to the SMTP server:

Syntax

ceph config set mgr mgr/alerts/smtp_user USERNAME
ceph config set mgr mgr/alerts/smtp_password PASSWORD

Example

[ceph: root@host01 /]# ceph config set mgr mgr/alerts/smtp_user admin1234
[ceph: root@host01 /]# ceph config set mgr mgr/alerts/smtp_password admin1234

Optional: By default, SMTP From name is Ceph. To change that, set the smtp_from_name parameter:

Syntax

ceph config set mgr mgr/alerts/smtp_from_name CLUSTER_NAME

Example

[ceph: root@host01 /]# ceph config set mgr mgr/alerts/smtp_from_name 'Ceph Cluster Test'

Optional: By default, the alerts module checks the storage cluster’s health every minute, and sends a message when there is a change in the cluster health status. To change the frequency, set the interval parameter:

Syntax
```
ceph config set mgr mgr/alerts/interval INTERVAL
```
Example
```
[ceph: root@host01 /]# ceph config set mgr mgr/alerts/interval "5m"
```
In this example, the interval is set to 5 minutes.
Optional: Send an alert immediately:

Example
```
[ceph: root@host01 /]# ceph alerts send
```

Reference

Health messages of a Ceph cluster