Creating threshold alerts with dynamic ranges

Create threshold alerts that monitor system metrics and trigger when values deviate from baseline by a specified percentage.

Roles and permissions

For information about required roles and permissions for creating alerts, see Roles and permissions for alerts.

Before you begin

Befor you start creating alerts, make sure that you:

  • Understand when to use dynamic range alerts vs. static value alerts (see Alert types).
  • Identify the metric you want to monitor and determine an appropriate baseline value.

Procedure

Follow the steps to create a threshold alert based on a dynamic range to trigger when a metric deviates from a defined baseline by a specified percentage.

  1. From the Data Observability page, click New alert.

  2. Select the alert type. In this example, select Metric alert. For more information about alert types, see Data Observability alerts.

  3. Define the asset to observe:

    1. Click Workspace to select the workspace that contains the job and metrics that you want to observe.
    2. Select the asset that contains the metric that you want to observe.
    3. Select the metric that you want to set up an alert for. You can select only one metric.
    4. Click Add assets.

  4. Select Percent deviation as the condition type. With the percent deviation option, you can observe changes in a metric’s value relative to its baseline or expected value.

  5. Configure the dynamic range:

    1. Set a baseline ratio value: Establish a standard value for your metric.
    2. Specify the acceptable percentage variation: Define the percentage range within which the actual value can deviate from the baseline.
    3. Calculate the acceptable range: The acceptable range is the baseline value ± the percentage deviation. Values within this range do not trigger an alert. The units of the baseline ratio match the units of the selected metric. For example, if the metric is duration expressed in minutes, the baseline ratio is also expressed in minutes. Look at the following example for a job with 6-minute average duration and 30% deviation:
      • Baseline ratio: 6 (for example, job run duration in minutes)
      • Percent deviation: 30%
      • Acceptable range: 4.2 - 7.8 (6 ± 1.8, where 1.8 is 30% of 6)
      • Alerts are triggered for values outside this range (less than 4.2 or greater than 7.8)

  6. Click Next.

  7. Enable Alert suppression.

  8. Select the severity level for the alert. Severity is provided for informational purposes only.

  9. Provide a unique alert name (required) and an optional description.

  10. Optional: Assign an alert receiver, or create one if none exists. With alert receivers, you can define who and how is notified when the alert is triggered. If you select an existing alert receiver click Create.

Results

The alert is created and is displayed in the Defined alerts tab. When the monitored metric deviates beyond the specified range, the alert triggers and sends notifications to configured alert receivers.

To verify your alert:

  1. Go to the Defined alerts tab.
  2. Locate your alert by name.
  3. Review the alert configuration and status.

For more information, see (Optional) Add an alert receiver.

Next steps