Managing Alert Deduplication and Notes in Opsgenie

[#1]

Alert deduplication in Opsgenie helps reduce alert fatigue by consolidating similar alerts. However, important information might be missed if deduplicated alerts don't update their messages or descriptions. To capture new details, configure Opsgenie to add notes during deduplication.

Imagine a scenario where a server goes down, and instead of receiving a barrage of alerts for every single check that fails, your team receives a single, consolidated alert.

However, while this reduces noise, it can potentially miss out on important updates if the alert messages or descriptions aren't updated with new information.

To address this, Opsgenie allows you to configure notes during the deduplication process, ensuring no critical details are lost.

Setting Up Notes for Deduplicated Alerts

1. Edit Create Alert Rule: Access the integration settings (e.g., Sumo Logic) and open the "Create Alert" rule.

2. Configure Note Addition:

   - Copy configurations from the Message and Description fields.

   - Paste into the Note field and save changes.

This ensures that each deduplication logs new data to the Note field, capturing all information without increasing alert counts.

Benefits

- Enhanced Visibility: Notes log new information, providing a comprehensive alert history.

- Reduced Alert Fatigue: Consolidated alerts with notes ensure awareness without overwhelming notifications.

Considerations

- Silent Updates: Notes don't trigger notifications, ensuring updates without interruptions.

- Testing: Verify that notes are added correctly to capture all necessary information.

Conclusion

Configuring notes for deduplicated alerts helps maintain a well-informed response team. For more guidance, refer to https://support.atlassian.com/opsgenie/docs/what-is-alert-de-duplication

These practices enhance your alert management strategy, ensuring your team stays informed and focused.


In case you have any further questions or would like to add information, please comment or ask below. :)

[Cameron McAuley]

Hey @Rafael Meira , thanks for the article.

I have a few questions.

1) Is it possible to send notification on Opsgenie/JSM Ops when a new note has been added?

2) Is it possible to send notification when alert is deduplicated x times? 

And if not, are these functionalities planned for the future?

I'm aware alert can be suppressed based on deduplication (i.e 'Don't alert AT ALL until deduplication count = 10'), but ideally there should be an option 'Create notification when alert is created and then ADDITIONALLY alert after x deduplication'.

Deduplication as it currently stands 'sounds' great, but in practice turning off all notifications on new updates to the alert can lead to a lack of urgency on the issue.

From what I can see on these forums, this has been a feature request since 2021 at least.