Types, Severities, and States

Learn about the properties that define and control alerts.

An alert’s type determines what causes it to fire.

Alert types
Type Description
State A state alert fires when the metric on which it is based changes to a particular state. The possible states are running, pending, stopped, warning, error, and unknown.
Threshold A threshold alert fires when the metric on which it is based passes a specified level.

Alert severities control when an alert is issued. You can configure the states or threshold values for each alert.

Alert severities
Severity Description
Normal No alert is issued.
Warning A problem has given cause for concern. An alert is issued; you can choose whether to subscribe to alerts that fire at the Warning level.
Critical A serious problem exists. An alert is issued; you can choose whether to subscribe to alerts that fire at the Critical level.
State-based alerts use these states:
  • Running
  • Pending
  • Unknown
  • Warning
  • Stopped
  • Error

The definitions of these states vary by component and sometimes by alert. See the component-specific topics for details.

Related concepts
Alert Subscriptions
Alert Notifications
Related tasks
Viewing Alerts
Modifying an Alert
Testing an Alert-Triggered Script
Deleting an Alert
Creating an Alert