Quota Center:Create a global alert rule for all API rate limits of a cloud service

Scenarios

When an enterprise manages cloud services, the enterprise may integrate the APIs of cloud services with their business to improve the automatic resource management capabilities. Due to the large number of API operations and frequent access to API operations, API throttling frequently occurs, which affects business stability. To resolve this issue, the O&M team of the enterprise can monitor the real-time usage and quotas of cloud service APIs and make plans in advance to ensure business stability. However, it is difficult to configure alert rules for each API operation separately because of the large number of API operations. In this case, the O&M team can use the global API rate limit monitoring feature.

Alibaba Cloud allows you to create a global alert rule for all API rate limits of a cloud service in the console or by calling API operations.

Billing

The alerting feature for API rate limits integrates the alerting capability of CloudMonitor. Alert notifications that are sent based on the created alert rules consume the notification quotas of CloudMonitor. The following billing rules apply based on the notification method:

• Phone calls: No free quota is provided. You need to enable the pay-as-you-go billing mode or purchase resource plans. For more information, see Pay-as-you-go and Resource plans.

• SMS messages: The free quota is 1,000 messages per month. You need to enable the pay-as-you-go billing mode or purchase resource plans if the free quota is used up. For more information, see Free quotas, Pay-as-you-go, and Resource plans.

• Emails and alert callbacks: These two notification methods are both free of charge.

Before you begin

• You must create an alert contact and an alert contact group in the CloudMonitor console to receive alert notifications. For more information, see Create an alert contact or alert contact group.

  

• If you to create alert rules for API rate limits a Resource Access Management (RAM) user, you must attach the AliyunQuotasFullAccess policy to the RAM user and grant the RAM user the permissions to create and delete alert rules for quota items by using CloudMonitor.

  Grant the following permissions to the RAM user. For more information, see Create custom policies and Grant permissions to a RAM user.

  {
    "Statement": [
      {
        "Effect": "Allow",
        "Action": [
          "cms:PutMetricRuleTargets",
          "cms:PutResourceMetricRules",
          "cms:DeleteMetricRules",
          "cms:DeleteMetricRuleTargets"
        ],
        "Resource": "*"
      }
    ],
    "Version": "1"
  }

Create a global alert rule for all API rate limits of a cloud service in the console

In this topic, a global alert rule is created for all API rate limits of Compute Nest. The alert condition is that if the quota usage of a monitored API rate limit reaches or exceeds 80%, alert notifications at the Warning level are sent to the alert contacts in the specified alert contact group by using text messages and emails.

You can perform this operation in the Quota Center console or the CloudMonitor console based on your business requirements.

Create a global alert rule for all API rate limits of a cloud service by calling API operations

In this topic, a global alert rule is created for all API rate limits of Compute Nest. The alert condition is that if the quota usage of a monitored API rate limit reaches or exceeds 80%, alert notifications at the Warning level are sent to the alert contacts in the specified alert contact group by using text messages and emails.

1. Check whether the API rate limits of Compute Nest support the global API rate limit monitoring feature.

   Call the ListProductQuotas operation of Quota Center and check the UsageMetric response parameter. If the return value of the UsageMetric parameter is not empty, Compute Nest supports the feature.

   • Request parameters: Set the ProductCode parameter to computenest and the QuotaCategory parameter to FlowControl, and use the default values for other parameters.

   • Response parameters: The UsageMetric response parameter displays the monitoring information for API rate limits in CloudMonitor. The return value of the MetricNamespace parameter is acs_quotas_flowcontrol. The following sample response shows the returned data for an API rate limit:

     {
           "QuotaDescription": "GetServiceTemplateParameterConstraints",
           "Consumable": false,
           "ProductCode": "computenest",
           "UsageMetric": {
             "MetricName": "Usage",
             "MetricDimensions": {
               "productCode": "computenest",
               "metricKey": "GetServiceTemplateParameterConstraints/2021-06-01",
               "regionId": "ap-southeast-1",
               "label": "none"
             },
             "MetricNamespace": "acs_quotas_flowcontrol"
           },
           "Dimensions": {
             "apiName": "GetServiceTemplateParameterConstraints",
             "apiVersion": "2021-06-01",
             "regionId": "ap-southeast-1"
           },
           "GlobalQuota": false,
           "Period": {
             "PeriodValue": 1,
             "PeriodUnit": "second"
           },
           "Adjustable": true,
           "QuotaActionCode": "f_4w8uhd",
           "QuotaName": "GetServiceTemplateParameterConstraints",
           "QuotaArn": "acs:quotas:ap-southeast-1:14133977********:quota/computenest/f_4w8uhd",
           "TotalQuota": 50,
           "QuotaCategory": "FlowControl"
         }

     Note

     The metricKey parameter can be used to create an alert rule for a single API rate limit.

2. Call the DescribeMetricList operation of CloudMonitor to query the monitoring data of API rate limits. The quota usage trends shown in the monitoring data can be used for your reference when you create an alert rule.

   • Request parameters: Set the Namespace parameter to acs_quotas_flowcontrol, the MetricName parameter to UsagePercentage, and the Dimensions parameter to [{"productCode":"computenest"}], and use the default values for other parameters.

     Note

     The valid values of the MetricName parameter for Quota Center are Quota (monitors the quota value), Usage (monitors the used quota), UsagePercentage (monitors the percentage of the used quota), and AvailablePercentage (monitors the percentage of the remaining quota).

   • Response parameters: You can refer to the Value parameter in the Datapoints response parameter to specify a threshold. The following code provides a sample response:

     {
       "RequestId": "2A7DB5BF-825C-51BB-AD91-D728857792F9",
       "Period": "60",
       "Datapoints": "[{\"timestamp\":1727337180000,\"productCode\":\"computenest\",\"metricKey\":\"GetServiceTemplateParameterConstraints/2021-05-21\",\"regionId\":\"cn-hangzhou\",\"label\":\"none\",\"userId\":\"14133977********\",\"Value\":2.0}]",
       "Code": "200",
       "Success": true
     }

3. Call the PutResourceMetricRules operation of CloudMonitor to create an alert rule for all API rate limits of Compute Nest.

   • Request parameters: The following table describes how to specify the required request parameters and provides examples.

     Parameter	Description	Example
     MetricName	The name of the metric. Valid values: Quota: monitors the quota value. Usage: monitors the used quota. UsagePercentage: monitors the percentage of the used quota. AvailablePercentage: monitors the percentage of the remaining quota. Note Only UsagePercentage and AvailablePercentage are available for a global alert rule for API rate limits.	UsagePercentage
     Escalations.Warn.Threshold	The threshold for alerts at the Warning level.	80
     EffectiveInterval	The period during which the alert rule takes effect.	00:00-23:59 +0800 dayofweek 1,2,3,4,5,6,7
     RuleId	The ID of the alert rule.	quota-computenest-ruleid-test
     Escalations.Warn.ComparisonOperator	The operator that is used to compare the metric value with the threshold for alerts at the Warning level. Valid values: GreaterThanOrEqualToThreshold: The metric value is greater than or equal to the threshold. GreaterThanThreshold: The metric value is greater than the threshold. LessThanOrEqualToThreshold: The metric value is less than or equal to the threshold. LessThanThreshold: The metric value is less than the threshold. NotEqualToThreshold: The metric value is not equal to the threshold. GreaterThanYesterday: The metric value is greater than the metric value at the same time yesterday. LessThanYesterday: The metric value is less than the metric value at the same time yesterday. GreaterThanLastWeek: The metric value is greater than the metric value at the same time last week. LessThanLastWeek: The metric value is less than the metric value at the same time last week. GreaterThanLastPeriod: The metric value is greater than the metric value in the previous statistical period. LessThanLastPeriod: The metric value is less than the metric value in the previous statistical period.	GreaterThanOrEqualToThreshold
     Resources	The resource information. Note The following sample code provides an example on how to specify the Resources parameter when you create an alert rule for a single API rate limit: [{"productCode":"computenest","metricKey":"GetServiceTemplateParameterConstraints/2021-06-01"}].	[{"productCode":"computenest"}]
     ContactGroups	The alert contact group.	CloudMonitor
     Namespace	The namespace of the cloud service.	acs_quotas_flowcontrol
     RuleName	The name of the alert rule.	quota-computenest-rulename-test
     Escalations.Warn.Times	The number of retries allowed for alerts at the Warning level.	3
     Escalations.Warn.Statistics	The statistical method for alerts at the Warning level.	Value

   • If a response similar to the following one is returned, the alert rule is successfully created:

     {
       "Message": "",
       "RequestId": "BE4CAC0F-A134-55BA-909B-FF62568FE884",
       "FailedListResult": {
         "Target": []
       },
       "Code": "200",
       "Success": true
     }

4. Call the DescribeMetricRuleList operation of CloudMonitor and check whether the alert rule is created from the RuleName or RuleId parameter.

What to do next

• You can create an alert rule for a single API rate limit of a cloud service. For more information, see the "Create an alert rule for an API rate limit" section of the Create an alert rule for a quota item topic.

• You can submit an application to increase the relevant quota after you receive an alert notification. For more information, see Submit an application to increase a quota.

• You can view the details of an alert rule created for a quota item. For more information, see View alert rules created for quota items and rule details.

• You can view the alert notifications that are sent based on an alert rule created for a quota item. For more information, see View the alert notification history of an alert rule for a quota item.