Grafana native alerting monitors metric data from connected data sources and sends notifications when values breach defined thresholds. You define alert rules that specify the conditions, then configure notification destinations and routing policies so the right team members are notified before issues impact services.
The configuration workflow differs between two Grafana version families:
| Grafana version | Alerting model | Key difference |
|---|---|---|
| 8.2.x and earlier | Classic alerting | Notification channels are configured per alert rule. |
| Later than 8.2.x | Unified alerting | Alert rules, contact points, and notification policies are configured independently and linked through label-based routing. |
Set up alerting in Grafana 8.2.x and earlier
Classic alerting ties notification channels directly to individual alert rules. Complete these steps in order: log on to Grafana, create a notification channel, create an alert rule on a dashboard panel, and verify the rule.
Step 1: Log on to Grafana
Log on to the Managed Service for Grafana console. In the left-side navigation pane, click Workspace Management.
On the Workspace Management page, find the target workspace and click its URL in the URL column to open Grafana.
Log on with the Grafana administrator account and the password you set when creating the workspace. Alternatively, click Sign in with Alibaba Cloud to use your current Alibaba Cloud account.
Step 2: Create a notification channel
A notification channel defines where and how Grafana delivers alert notifications.
In the left-side navigation pane, click
and select Notification channels.Click New channel and configure the following parameters.
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
| Name | A descriptive name for the channel, such as ops-team-dingtalk. |
| Type | The notification method. Options include DingTalk, webhook, and email. |
| Addresses | The destination endpoint. For DingTalk, enter the webhook URL of a DingTalk chatbot. For details, see Obtain the webhook URL of a DingTalk chatbot. |
Step 3: Create an alert rule
In the left-side navigation pane, choose
> Dashboard. Click Add an empty panel.On the Query tab, select a data source and write a query. Then switch to the Alert tab and click Create Alert.
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
| Rule | Name: A descriptive name for the alert rule. |
Evaluate Every: How often Grafana evaluates the rule. Common values: 1m, 2m, 5m. | |
For: How long the condition must be met before Grafana fires the alert. For example, setting this to 5m means the threshold must be breached continuously for 5 minutes before a notification is sent. This filters out brief spikes. | |
| Conditions | The threshold expression that triggers the alert. For example, "when the average of Query A is above 600." |
| No data and error handling | Specifies whether to send alert notifications when no data is available or the query times out. |
| Notifications | Send to: Select the notification channel created in Step 2. |
| Message: Custom notification content. For supported template expressions, see Message templating. | |
| Tags: Custom key-value tags attached to the alert for filtering and grouping. |
(Optional) Step 4: View the alert rule
In the left-side navigation pane, choose 
> Alert Rules to view all configured alert rules and their current states.
Set up alerting in Grafana versions later than 8.2.x
Unified alerting decouples alert rules from notification destinations. Alert rules, contact points, and notification policies are configured independently, then linked through label-based routing.
The UI differs slightly between Grafana 9.0.x and Grafana 10.0.x. This section uses Grafana 9.0.x as an example. You can also create alert rules by adding an empty panel, as described in Step 3 under Grafana 8.2.x.
Step 1: Disable the ARMS alerting plug-in
ARMS alerting and Grafana native alerting cannot run simultaneously. Disable ARMS alerting first.
Log on to the Managed Service for Grafana console. In the left-side navigation pane, click Workspace Management.
On the Workspace Management page, click the workspace ID to open its settings.
In the left-side navigation pane, click Alert Management. Disable the ARMS alerting plug-in and enable Grafana native alerting.
Step 2: Create an alert rule
On the Workspace Management page, find the target workspace and click its URL in the URL column to open Grafana.
Log on with the Grafana administrator account and the password you set when creating the workspace. Alternatively, click Sign in with Alibaba Cloud to use your current Alibaba Cloud account.
In the left-side navigation pane, choose
> Alert rules. Click New alert rule or Create alert rule.Configure the alert rule and click Save.
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
| Set a query and alert condition | Define the data query and the condition that triggers the alert. |
| Query patterns: The data source query that retrieves the metric to monitor. | |
| Operation: The condition type. Classic condition is compatible with Grafana 8.2.x-style rules. | |
| Conditions: The threshold expression. For example, "when the average of Query A is above 600." | |
| Alert evaluation behavior | Controls how frequently the rule is evaluated and how it handles edge cases. |
Evaluate Every: How often Grafana evaluates the rule (for example, 1m, 2m, 5m). | |
| For: How long it takes to send an alert event to the corresponding notification channel when triggering alerts. | |
| Configure no data and error handling: What happens when the query returns no data or encounters an error. | |
| Add details for your alert | Metadata that helps organize and identify the alert rule. |
| Rule Name: A descriptive name for the alert rule. | |
| Folder: The folder to which the alert rule belongs. | |
| Group: The evaluation group. Rules in the same group are evaluated together on the same schedule. | |
| Summary and annotations: Additional context such as the alert content, the dashboards to which the alert rule applies, and the folder. | |
| Notifications | Custom Labels: Key-value pairs used by notification policies to route this alert to the correct contact point. |
On the Alert rules page, verify that the new rule appears and shows the expected state.
Step 3: Create a contact point
A contact point defines where and how notifications are delivered.
In the left-side navigation pane, choose
> Contact points.On the Contact points tab, click New contact Point or Add contact point.
Configure the following parameters.
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
| Name | A descriptive name for the contact point, such as ops-team-webhook. |
| Contact point type | The delivery method. Options include DingTalk, webhook, and email. |
| Addresses | The destination endpoint. For DingTalk, enter the webhook URL of a DingTalk chatbot. For details, see Obtain the webhook URL of a DingTalk chatbot. |
Step 4: Create a notification policy
By creating a notification policy, you can link alert rules to the contact point.
In the left-side navigation pane, choose
> Notification policies.On the Notification policies tab, click New nested policy or New specific policy.
Configure the following parameters.
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
| Matching labels | Label matchers that determine which alerts this policy handles. For example, severity=critical routes all critical alerts to the specified contact point. |
| Contact point | The contact point that receives notifications for matching alerts. |
Configure the alert grouping and silencing options based on your needs.