- Lab
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Libraries: If you want this lab, consider one of these libraries.
- Cloud
- Security

Using Alertmanager with Prometheus
Prometheus does not just limit us to recording metrics. One of Prometheus's core functionalities is the ability to define and route alerts to any alert management endpoint we define — or, in the case of this hands-on lab, Prometheus's own sideproject, Alertmanager. Once we have our desired alerting thresholds defined, we need to set up our routes and receivers for the Alertmanager, ensuring our notifications are going to the right end user at the correct frequency and with the right information.

Lab Info
Table of Contents
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Challenge
Add a Rules File
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Add a rules file configuration to the Prometheus config:
sudo $EDITOR /etc/prometheus/prometheus.yml rule_files: - "rules.yml"
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Save and exit.
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Create and open the
rules.yml
file:sudo $EDITOR /etc/prometheus/rules.yml
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Challenge
Add an Alert to Track Uptime
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Before creating the alert itself, create a recording of the desired metric:
groups: - name: uptime rules: - record: job:uptime:average:ft expr: avg without (instance) (up{job="forethought"})
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Create an alert based on this recording:
groups: - name: uptime rules: - record: job:uptime:average:ft expr: avg without (instance) (up{job="forethought"}) - alert: ForethoughtApplicationDown expr: job:uptime:average:ft < .75 for: 30s labels: severity: page team: devops
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Save and exit.
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Restart Prometheus:
sudo systemctl restart prometheus sudo systemctl status prometheus
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Challenge
Configure Alertmanager to Use an SMTP Smarthost
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Open the Alertmanager configuration file:
sudo $EDITOR /etc/alertmanager/alertmanager.yml
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Define the global settings:
global: resolve_timeout: 5m smtp_smarthost: 'localhost:25' smtp_from: 'prometheus'
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Challenge
Set up Alertmanager Routing
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Set up the backup route:
route: receiver: 'email_backup' group_by: ['alertname'] group_wait: 10s group_interval: 10s repeat_interval: 1m
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Set up the route for critical alerts:
route: receiver: 'email_backup' group_by: ['alertname'] group_wait: 10s group_interval: 10s repeat_interval: 1m routes: - match: severity: 'critical' group_by: ['team'] receiver: 'email_pager'
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Set up the route for team alerts:
route: receiver: 'email_backup' group_by: ['alertname'] group_wait: 10s group_interval: 10s repeat_interval: 1m routes: - match: severity: 'critical' group_by: ['team'] receiver: 'email_pager' routes: - match: team: devops receiver: 'email_devops' ``
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Challenge
Create the Needed Receivers
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Create the receivers:
receivers: - name: 'email_backup' email_configs: - to: '[email protected]' - name: 'email_pager' email_configs: - to: '[email protected]' - name: 'email_devops' email_configs: - to: '[email protected]'
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Save and exit.
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Restart Alertmanager:
sudo systemctl restart alertmanager
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About the author
Real skill practice before real-world application
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