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In your first week with Netdata, keep checks that prompt a useful response, tune noisy checks that still matter, and silence notifications when the check should continue running but alerts are not useful yet. Disable a check only when you want Netdata to stop evaluating it. There is no universal starter list: Netdata documents hundreds of pre-configured health alerts, and the right choices depend on your workloads and operational needs.
Once the alert set is manageable, configure Agent-dispatched notifications in health_alarm_notify.conf for Slack, Discord, or ntfy. Slack also has a separate Netdata Cloud integration with different prerequisites.
How to review Netdata alerts in your first week
Netdata’s stock health.d/ directory contains hundreds of alert definitions, alongside support for custom definitions and UI-based configuration. Treat that stock set as an inventory to review against the hosts and workloads you actually monitor, not as a requirement to notify on every condition. Netdata does not prescribe one correct starter list. Netdata’s alerts and notifications overview
- Inspect active and recent alerts on the nodes that matter to you.
- For each alert, note the affected host or chart, the condition and severity, and whether the event represents an actual service or operational concern.
- Decide whether someone needs an immediate notification, whether the alert is useful but too noisy, or whether the check itself is irrelevant to the monitored system.
- Choose to keep, tune, silence, or disable it based on that review.
Keep alerts that lead to action
Keep checks and notifications for conditions that warrant investigation or intervention. What qualifies depends on your infrastructure and the consequences of a missed or delayed response; the documentation supports tailoring alerts to your topology and needs, but does not name a universally correct set.
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Tune noisy alerts that still matter
If a meaningful alert fires too often or at thresholds that do not fit the workload, make a user override instead of editing the stock definition. In the Netdata configuration directory, run:
sudo ./edit-config health.d/<file>Use a same-name template to change the alert for all matching instances, or a same-name alarm to target one specific instance. User definitions are processed before stock definitions, and configuration-directory overrides are designed to survive Agent updates; the stock directory is replaced during updates. After editing a health definition, reload it with:
sudo netdatacli reload-healthNetdata’s configuration guide illustrates changing warning and critical expressions, including status-aware thresholds. Those examples show syntax, not recommended values for your machines. Set thresholds against observed workload behavior and consider both the cost of unnecessary notifications and the impact of missing a real problem. Configure Health Alerts · Overriding Stock Alerts
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Silence notifications or disable the check?
Silencing and disabling are not interchangeable. A silenced check continues to be evaluated and can remain visible as an active alert; disabling a check stops evaluation and prevents events from being added to the alert log.
| Choice | What Netdata does | When it fits |
|---|---|---|
| Keep notifications | Evaluates the check and sends notifications according to its configuration. | The condition merits a response and the notification is useful. |
| Silence | Continues evaluating the condition and records alert events, but sends no notifications. | The check remains useful, but notifications are distracting or premature. |
| Disable | Does not evaluate matching checks or add their events to the alert log. | The check itself should not run for the selected period or scope. |
Silence persistently or for maintenance
For a persistent per-alert choice, set to: silent in the alert definition and reload health configuration. For a temporary maintenance window, use the Health management API’s SILENCE operation. It can select alerts by alert or template name, chart, context, and host. Netdata’s API guide summarizes the effect: “Silence alert notifications. Alert conditions will be evaluated, the alerts will appear in the log and the Netdata UI will show the alerts as active, but no notifications will be sent.” Health API Calls
Disable only when evaluation should stop
The API’s DISABLE operation prevents evaluation and alert-log entries for matching checks. It is protected by an authorization token and, by default, accepts management requests only from localhost. Avoid broadening remote access casually. Use RESET when the maintenance period ends to restore normal behavior.
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Exclude alerts globally with care
For persistent global selection, enabled alarms in netdata.conf can exclude named alerts followed by a trailing *, or allow only named alerts by omitting the wildcard. Netdata warns that order matters: put exclusions first and a single wildcard at the end. Changes to netdata.conf require restarting the Agent; sudo netdatacli reload-health reloads health files but does not reload netdata.conf. Configure Health Alerts
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Route Agent notifications to Slack
For Agent-dispatched Slack alerts, create a Slack app with an incoming webhook and choose the channel where messages should arrive. In health_alarm_notify.conf, configure SEND_SLACK, SLACK_WEBHOOK_URL, and DEFAULT_RECIPIENT_SLACK. The recipient can be a channel name with or without #. Netdata documents a test command using alarm-notify.sh; follow the current Slack guide for its exact command and test procedure. Treat the webhook URL as a secret. Slack — Agent Dispatched Notifications
Separate option: centralized Slack through Netdata Cloud
Netdata also documents centralized Cloud Slack notifications. This is a distinct path, not the same Agent-dispatched setup: it requires a Netdata Cloud account, Space admin access, a paid plan, and a Slack app with an incoming webhook. Configure it in Space settings under Alerts & Notifications, then select rooms and notification types. Slack — Centralized Cloud Notifications
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Route Agent notifications to Discord
Create a Discord incoming webhook for the channel where alerts should land. In health_alarm_notify.conf, set SEND_DISCORD, DISCORD_WEBHOOK_URL, and DEFAULT_RECIPIENT_DISCORD. The guide also documents role-specific channel recipients. To test a mechanism for a selected role, Netdata instructs operators to run its test command as the netdata user with notification debugging enabled; use the current guide for the precise command. Keep the webhook URL private. Discord — Agent Dispatched Notifications
Route Agent notifications to ntfy
In health_alarm_notify.conf, set SEND_NTFY and DEFAULT_RECIPIENT_NTFY to the ntfy server-topic URL. The guide supports multiple recipient URLs and role-specific server/topic destinations. A self-hosted ntfy server is optional. For authentication, it documents optional username, password, and access-token settings; its username-and-password instructions specifically describe self-hosted ntfy. Treat credentials and access tokens as secrets. ntfy — Agent Dispatched Notifications
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| Route | Where messages land | Setup and access |
|---|---|---|
| Slack, Agent-dispatched | A Slack channel | Slack app incoming webhook; Agent settings in health_alarm_notify.conf. |
| Slack, centralized Cloud | Selected rooms and notification types | Netdata Cloud account, Space admin access, paid plan, and Slack app incoming webhook. |
| Discord, Agent-dispatched | A Discord channel | Discord incoming webhook; Agent settings in health_alarm_notify.conf; role-specific recipients are documented. |
| ntfy, Agent-dispatched | An ntfy topic on the configured server | Server-topic URL in health_alarm_notify.conf; optional authentication and optional self-hosting. |
Choose based on the channels your team already monitors, whether you need role-specific routing, and whether you prefer a hosted service or an optional self-hosted ntfy server. Netdata’s setup guides describe configuration, not comparative uptime, delivery latency, pricing across all three services, or notification quality, so they do not establish that one destination is objectively more reliable than another.
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