Setting Up Email Alerts

Getting Started with Email Notifications

Email alerts are essential for maintaining awareness of your server infrastructure without constantly checking your dashboard. Server Scout's notification system allows you to configure intelligent alerts that keep you informed of critical issues whilst avoiding alert fatigue through smart cooldown mechanisms.

Navigating to Notification Settings

To configure your email alerts, log into your Server Scout dashboard and follow these steps:

1. Click on Settings in the main navigation menu
2. Select Notifications from the left sidebar
3. Choose the Email Alerts tab

You'll see an overview of your current notification configuration, including active recipients and alert rules.

Adding Email Recipients

Before configuring alert types, you'll need to specify who should receive notifications:

1. Click Add Recipient in the Email Recipients section
2. Enter the email address for the recipient
3. Assign a descriptive name (e.g., "Primary Sysadmin" or "On-call Team")
4. Select the recipient's role from the dropdown menu
5. Click Save Recipient

You can add multiple recipients and customise which alert types each person receives. This is particularly useful for organisations where different team members handle specific aspects of server management.

Choosing Alert Types

Server Scout monitors several critical server metrics. You can enable email alerts for any combination of:

• CPU Usage: Alerts when processor utilisation exceeds defined thresholds
• Memory Usage: Notifications for high RAM consumption
• Disk Space: Warnings when storage capacity runs low
• Server Offline: Immediate alerts when a server becomes unreachable
• Service Down: Notifications when monitored services stop responding

For each alert type, tick the checkbox next to the recipient's name to enable notifications. You can create different alert profiles—for example, sending disk space warnings only to storage administrators whilst ensuring everyone receives offline server alerts.

Setting Custom Thresholds

Default thresholds work well for most environments, but you may need to adjust them based on your specific requirements:

1. Click Configure Thresholds next to each alert type
2. Set the percentage threshold (e.g., CPU > 90%)
3. Define the duration before triggering an alert (e.g., 5 minutes)
4. Choose whether to enable the threshold immediately or schedule it

For example, you might configure CPU alerts to trigger when usage exceeds 85% for 10 consecutive minutes, preventing false alarms from brief processing spikes.

Recommended threshold starting points:

• CPU: 85% for 5-10 minutes
• Memory: 90% for 3 minutes
• Disk space: 85% immediately
• Services: Immediate notification

Understanding Alert Severity Levels

Server Scout uses two severity levels to help you prioritise responses:

Warning Level

Triggered when metrics exceed the first threshold but haven't reached critical levels. These alerts indicate potential issues that should be investigated during normal working hours.

Critical Level

Reserved for severe problems requiring immediate attention, such as servers going offline or resources reaching dangerously high levels (typically 95%+ for CPU/memory).

You can configure different recipients for each severity level. For instance, warnings might go to the general IT team, whilst critical alerts could also notify management or on-call personnel via SMS integration.

Alert Cooldowns and Preventing Alert Fatigue

Server Scout includes intelligent cooldown mechanisms to prevent inbox flooding:

• Standard Cooldown: After sending an alert, Server Scout waits 30 minutes before sending another alert for the same issue
• Escalation Cooldown: If an issue persists beyond the initial cooldown, subsequent alerts are spaced 2 hours apart
• Resolution Notifications: You'll receive a single email when issues are resolved

During cooldowns, Server Scout continues monitoring but suppresses duplicate notifications. This ensures you're aware of ongoing issues without receiving dozens of identical emails.

Testing Your Configuration

Before relying on your alert setup:

1. Click Send Test Email to verify delivery
2. Consider temporarily lowering thresholds to trigger test alerts
3. Confirm all team members receive their designated notifications

Properly configured email alerts transform Server Scout into a proactive monitoring solution, ensuring you're promptly informed of issues whilst maintaining a manageable notification volume.