Alert Channels

Overview

Alert channels define how Monitoring delivers notifications when alert rules fire. Channels must be configured before creating alert rules that reference them. This page covers creating and testing all supported channel types, and configuring escalation policies for critical alerts.

Administrator Access Required — This operation requires the admin role. Contact your Polystack administrator if you do not have sufficient permissions.

Web Console
CLI

SMTP email alerts and webhook notifications can be configured directly in the deployment console:

Open Configuration

Navigate to the deployment console → Configuration and select the Monitoring tab.

Configure alert channels

Scroll to the Alert Configuration section and set the notification channels:

Setting	Description
SMTP Server	Mail server hostname and port
SMTP From Address	Sender email address for alert notifications
SMTP Recipients	Comma-separated recipient email addresses
SMTP TLS Mode	TLS encryption mode (STARTTLS or SSL)
Webhook URL	Endpoint URL for Slack, Microsoft Teams, or custom webhooks

Test the channels

Use the Test Email and Test Webhook buttons to verify delivery before saving. This sends a test notification to confirm connectivity and credentials.

Always test channels immediately after configuration. Discovering a broken channel during a real incident delays response significantly.

Save and deploy

Click Save Configuration, then navigate to the deployment console → Operations and run a Reconfigure for the monitoring services.

Alert channels are configured and tested.

Prerequisites

Administrator credentials with the admin role
SMTP, webhook, PagerDuty, or Slack credentials depending on the channel type

Creating Alert Channels

Dashboard
CLI

Navigate to Alert Channels

Navigate to Monitor Center > Monitoring (Add Channel, admin view).

Configure the channel

Select the channel type and complete the required fields:

Channel Type	Required Fields
Email	SMTP server, port, from address, recipient list, TLS mode
Webhook	URL, HTTP method, optional Authorization header
PagerDuty	Integration key (from PagerDuty service), severity mapping
Slack	Incoming webhook URL, target channel name
Teams	Incoming webhook URL

Test the channel

Click Test after saving to send a test notification. Verify delivery before assigning the channel to production alert rules.

Use the Test button immediately after creating a channel. Discovering a broken channel during a real incident delays response significantly.

List configured channels

monitoring alert channel list

Add email channel

monitoring alert channel create \
  --name ops-email \
  --type email \
  --to ops-team@example.com \
  --smtp smtp.example.com:587

Add webhook channel

monitoring alert channel create \
  --name ops-webhook \
  --type webhook \
  --url https://hooks.example.com/monitoring \
  --method POST

Test a channel

monitoring alert channel test ops-webhook

Delete a channel

monitoring alert channel delete ops-webhook

Escalation Policies

Configure multi-tier escalation for critical infrastructure alerts:

Navigate to Escalation Policies

Navigate to Monitor Center > Monitoring (Escalation Policies, admin view).

Define escalation tiers

Tier	Trigger	Channel	Delay
Tier 1	Alert fires	PagerDuty on-call	Immediate
Tier 2	Not acknowledged	Slack ops channel	5 minutes
Tier 3	Still unacknowledged	Page on-call manager	15 minutes

Escalation policies only apply to alert rules with the policy assigned. Verify every critical alert rule has an escalation policy — a rule without one stops at Tier 1 and never escalates.

Assign to alert rules

Open the target alert rule and set the Escalation Policy field. The policy applies to all future alert events for that rule.

Alert rule references the escalation policy. Future alert events will escalate per the configured tiers.

Channel Configuration Reference

Email (SMTP)

Email channel configuration

name: ops-email
type: email
smtp:
  server: smtp.example.com
  port: 587
  username: monitoring@example.com
  password: <SMTP_PASSWORD>
  tls: starttls
from: monitoring@example.com
recipients:
  - ops-team@example.com
  - oncall@example.com

PagerDuty

PagerDuty channel configuration

name: pagerduty-oncall
type: pagerduty
integration_key: <PAGERDUTY_INTEGRATION_KEY>
severity_mapping:
  critical: critical
  warning: warning
  info: info

Generate the integration key in PagerDuty under Services → Integrations → Add Integration → Events API v2.

Slack

Slack channel configuration

name: slack-ops
type: slack
webhook_url: https://hooks.slack.com/services/T.../B.../...
channel: "#ops-alerts"
username: "Monitoring Alerts"
icon_emoji: ":alert:"

Generate the webhook URL in Slack under Apps → Incoming Webhooks → Add to Slack.

Next Steps

Metrics & Alerts (User Guide)

How users create alert rules that reference these channels

Alert Rules (Advanced)

Silence rules, inhibition, and escalation policy usage

Security

Dashboard access control and credential management

Troubleshooting

Diagnose channel delivery failures and SMTP connectivity issues

Core Services

Other Services

Overview

Open Configuration

Configure alert channels

Test the channels

Save and deploy

Creating Alert Channels

Navigate to Alert Channels

Configure the channel

Test the channel

Escalation Policies

Navigate to Escalation Policies

Define escalation tiers

Assign to alert rules

Channel Configuration Reference

Next Steps

Metrics & Alerts (User Guide)

Alert Rules (Advanced)

Security

Troubleshooting

​Overview

Open Configuration

Configure alert channels

Test the channels

Save and deploy

​Creating Alert Channels

Navigate to Alert Channels

Configure the channel

Test the channel

​Escalation Policies

Navigate to Escalation Policies

Define escalation tiers

Assign to alert rules

​Channel Configuration Reference

​Next Steps

Metrics & Alerts (User Guide)

Alert Rules (Advanced)

Security

Troubleshooting

Overview

Creating Alert Channels

Escalation Policies

Channel Configuration Reference

Next Steps