Simple and Effective Alerting
I avoided notification and alerting for a long time because I couldn’t find a well thought out approach that was simple, robust, and repeatable. There are a lot of good tools, but having a well thought out strategy for various situations is just as important as the tools. Hopefully this helps get a few of you off on the right foot.
Alert and Notification Concepts
Categories of Alerts
- Information (INFO)
- Warning (WARN)
- Critical (CRIT)
Methods
- Allow simple toggle on / off for each alert
- Display colored cards on dashboard / hide when not active
- Send individual notification when required
- Send repeat notifications at set intervals while active
- Allow acknowledgement of alerts to supress further notifications
Alert Integration
The Alert integration is both simple and powerful. At first glance it seems limited, but spending some time with it, I found it to be one of the best options out there.
Notification groups
I recommend using notification groups which make future changes and maintenance to your notify targets very easy.
################################# Notify ###################################
notify:
- name: STD_Information
platform: group
services:
- service: mobile_app_chads_phone
- name: STD_Warning
platform: group
services:
- service: mobile_app_chads_phone
- service: mobile_app_carens_phone
- name: STD_Critical
platform: group
services:
- service: mobile_app_chads_phone
- service: mobile_app_carens_phone
- service: gmail_alert
Informational
Garage door(s) are open (INFO)
- Input Boolean turns on/off the alerts
- Display
- Card is shown on dashboard as soon as garage door is open
- Notification
- Notification occurs after 180 minutes and repeats every 180 minutes
- Acknowledging alert stops further notifications
- RESOLVED notification once alert is no longer active
- Automation at 10:30PM, if alert is active send notification at that time
group:
Garage Doors:
entities:
- binary_sensor.garage_door_1
- binary_sensor.garage_door_2
input_boolean:
garage_door_notify:
name: Garage Door Notify
icon: mdi:information
template:
- binary_sensor:
- name: Garage Door Alert Active
state: "{{ is_state('group.garage_doors', 'on') and is_state('input_boolean.garage_door_notify', 'on') }}"
alert:
garage_door_info_alert_active:
name: Garage Door Alert Active
entity_id: binary_sensor.garage_door_alert_active
state: "on"
repeat:
- 180
can_acknowledge: true
skip_first: true
title: "7580 Info - Garage Door Open"
message: >
Garage Door open for {{ relative_time(states.binary_sensor.garage_door_alert_active.last_changed) }} \
Alerts on: {{ expand('group.garage_doors') | selectattr('state', 'eq', 'on') | map(attribute='attributes.friendly_name') | list | join(', ') }} \
Triggered: {{ as_timestamp(states.binary_sensor.garage_door_alert_active.last_changed) | timestamp_custom('%A %I:%M%p (%d-%b-%Y)') }}
done_message: "Garage Door Alert RESOLVED at {{ as_timestamp(states.binary_sensor.garage_door_alert_active.last_changed) | timestamp_custom('%A %I:%M%p (%d-%b-%Y)') }}"
notifiers:
- STD_Information
automation:
- alias: Nightly Garage Door Check
description: ""
mode: single
trigger:
- platform: time
at: "22:30:00"
condition:
- condition: and
conditions:
- condition: state
entity_id: binary_sensor.garage_door_alert_active
state: "on"
- condition: state
entity_id: input_boolean.garage_door_notify
state: "on"
action:
- service: notify.STD_Information
data:
message: >
Garage Door open for {{ relative_time(states.binary_sensor.garage_door_alert_active.last_changed) }} \
Alerts on: {{ expand('group.garage_doors') | selectattr('state', 'eq', 'on') | map(attribute='attributes.friendly_name') | list | join(', ') }} \
Triggered: {{ as_timestamp(states.binary_sensor.garage_door_alert_active.last_changed) | timestamp_custom('%A %I:%M%p (%d-%b-%Y)') }}
title: "7580 Info - Garage Door Open"
Device restarted (INFO)
- Input Boolean turns on/off the alerts
- Display
- Card is shown on dashboard as soon as when uptime of a device is between 3 and 10 minutes
- Notification
- Only one notification
input_boolean:
device_restart_notify:
name: Device Restart Notify
icon: mdi:information
template:
# Note this binary sensor is checking group.device_uptimes for a sensor that matches '3 minutes' which you would get from relative_time
- binary_sensor:
- name: Device Restart Alert Active
state: "{{ (expand('group.device_uptimes') | selectattr('state', 'match', '3 minutes') | map(attribute='attributes.friendly_name') | list | count | int(0) > 0) and is_state('input_boolean.device_restart_notify', 'on') }}"
# Template trigger to create sensor.home_assistant_uptime using relative_time. Template trigger allows the value to be refreshed every 1 minute otherwise it would never update since ha_last_start only changes on restart.
- trigger:
- platform: time_pattern
minutes: "/1"
- platform: homeassistant
event: start
- platform: event
event_type: "call_service"
event_data:
domain: "template"
service: "reload"
sensor:
- name: Home Assistant Uptime
state: >
{{ states('sensor.ha_last_start')|as_datetime|relative_time }}
automation:
# Automatically add all sensors ending in _uptime to the group.
- alias: "Update Device Uptimes Group"
trigger:
- platform: homeassistant
event: start
- platform: event
event_type: "call_service"
event_data:
domain: "group"
service: "reload"
action:
- service: group.set
data_template:
object_id: device_uptimes
name: Device Uptimes
entities: >
{% set ns = namespace(entities=[]) %}
{% set initialList = states.sensor %}
{% for s in initialList if s.object_id.endswith('_uptime') %}
{% set ns.entities = ns.entities + [ s.entity_id ] %}
{% endfor %}
{{ ns.entities }}
# Note - this is not an alert, just an automation to send a notification when the condition is satified.
- alias: Device Restart Info Alert Active
description: ""
mode: single
trigger:
- platform: template
## You could just reference the binary sensor above, this is duplicating the same logic to show how it can be done in an automation
value_template: >
{{ expand('group.device_uptimes') | selectattr('state', 'match', '3 minutes') | map(attribute='attributes.friendly_name') | list | count | int(0) > 0 }}
condition: "{{ is_state('input_boolean.device_restart_notify', 'on') }}"
action:
- service: notify.STD_Information
data:
message: >
Device(s) restarted: {{ expand('group.device_uptimes') | selectattr('state', 'match', '3 minutes') | map(attribute='attributes.friendly_name') | list | join(', ') | replace(' Uptime', '') }} \
Triggered: {{ as_timestamp(states.binary_sensor.device_restart_alert_active.last_changed) | timestamp_custom('%A %I:%M%p (%d-%b-%Y)') }}
title: "7580 Info - Device Restarted"
- delay: 00:00:05
Show entities with issues like unknown devices (INFO)
- Display
- Card is shown on dashboard when specified devices have “Unknown” state
This doesn’t require any backend configuration and doesn’t do any notification, but it is really useful to quickly bring issues to the forefront. It just displays the card by using the auto-entities card. See the lovelace configuration at the bottom for details, but will require some minor tuning for exclusions in your system.
Warnings
Device down (WARN)
- Input Boolean turns on/off the alerts
- Display
- Down devices show on dashboard immediately
- Alert is shown on dashboard after 250 second wait (2-4 ping cycles)
- Notification
- Notification occurs after 3, 13, 43, and 103 minutes and repeats every 60 minutes
- Acknowledging alert stops further notifications
- RESOLVED notification once alert is no longer active
group:
network_devices:
name: Network Devices
all: true #Only on when all devices are on
entities:
- binary_sensor.ping_firewalla
- binary_sensor.ping_coreswitch
- binary_sensor.ping_wap_2ndfloor
wan_devices:
name: WAN Devices
all: false #If one is still available, then WAN isn't down
entities:
- binary_sensor.pingext_opendns
- binary_sensor.pingext_google_dns
binary_sensor:
- platform: ping
host: 208.67.220.220
name: "PingExt-OpenDNS"
<<: &ping_external_config
count: 2
scan_interval: 60
- platform: ping
host: 8.8.8.8
name: "PingExt-Google DNS"
<<: *ping_external_config
- platform: ping
host: 192.168.202.1
name: "Ping-Firewalla"
<<: &ping_internal_config
count: 2
scan_interval: 120
- platform: ping
host: "coreswitch.int.ccpk.us"
name: "Ping-CoreSwitch"
<<: *ping_internal_config
- platform: ping
host: "192.168.254.7"
name: "Ping-pve1"
<<: *ping_internal_config
input_boolean:
network_device_down_notify:
name: Network Device Down Notify
icon: mdi:alert
wan_down_notify:
name: WAN Down Notify
icon: mdi:alert
template:
- binary_sensor:
## Down alerts have 250 second delay built in before activating
- name: Network Device Down Alert Active
state: "{{ (is_state('group.network_devices', 'off') and ((as_timestamp(now()) - as_timestamp(states.group.network_devices.last_changed)) | int(0) > 250 )) and is_state('input_boolean.network_device_down_notify', 'on') }}"
- name: WAN Down Alert Active
state: "{{ (is_state('group.wan_devices', 'off') and ((as_timestamp(now()) - as_timestamp(states.group.wan_devices.last_changed)) | int(0) > 250 )) and is_state('input_boolean.wan_down_notify', 'on') }}"
alert:
network_device_down_warn_alert_active:
name: Network Device Down Alert Active
entity_id: binary_sensor.network_device_down_alert_active
state: "on"
repeat:
- 3
- 10
- 30
- 60
can_acknowledge: true
skip_first: false
title: "7580 Warning - Network Device Down"
message: >
Network device down for {{ relative_time(states.binary_sensor.network_device_down_alert_active.last_changed) }} \
Alerts on: {{ expand('group.network_devices') | selectattr('state', 'eq', 'off') | map(attribute='attributes.friendly_name') | list | join(', ') }} \
Triggered: {{ as_timestamp(states.binary_sensor.network_device_down_alert_active.last_changed) | timestamp_custom('%A %I:%M%p (%d-%b-%Y)') }}
done_message: "Network Device Down Alert RESOLVED at {{ as_timestamp(states.binary_sensor.network_device_down_alert_active.last_changed) | timestamp_custom('%A %I:%M%p (%d-%b-%Y)') }}"
notifiers:
- STD_Warning
wan_down_warn_alert_active:
name: WAN Down Alert Active
entity_id: binary_sensor.wan_down_alert_active
state: "on"
repeat:
- 3
- 10
- 30
- 60
can_acknowledge: true
skip_first: false
title: "7580 Warning - WAN Down"
message: >
WAN down for {{ relative_time(states.binary_sensor.wan_down_alert_active.last_changed) }} \
Alerts on: {{ expand('group.wan_devices') | selectattr('state', 'eq', 'off') | map(attribute='attributes.friendly_name') | list | join(', ') }} \
Triggered: {{ as_timestamp(states.binary_sensor.wan_down_alert_active.last_changed) | timestamp_custom('%A %I:%M%p (%d-%b-%Y)') }}
done_message: "WAN Down Alert RESOLVED at {{ as_timestamp(states.binary_sensor.wan_down_alert_active.last_changed) | timestamp_custom('%A %I:%M%p (%d-%b-%Y)') }}"
notifiers:
- STD_Warning
Critical Alerts
Freezer Temperature (CRIT)
- Input Boolean turns on/off the alerts
- Display
- Alert is shown when temperature outside of range
- Notification
- Notification occurs after 15, 45, and 105 minutes and repeats every 120 minutes
- Acknowledging alert stops further notifications
- RESOLVED notification once alert is no longer active
input_boolean:
kitchen_freezer_notify:
name: Kitchen Freezer Notify
icon: mdi:alert
template:
- binary_sensor:
- name: Kitchen Freezer Alert Active
state: "{{ (states('sensor.kitchen_freezer_temperature') | int(0) < -10 or states('sensor.kitchen_freezer_temperature') | int(0) > 10) and is_state('input_boolean.kitchen_freezer_notify', 'on') }}"
availability: "{{ states('sensor.kitchen_freezer_temperature') not in ['unavailable', 'unknown', 'none'] }}"
alert:
kitchen_freezer_crit_alert_active:
name: Kitchen Freezer Alert Active
entity_id: binary_sensor.kitchen_freezer_alert_active
state: "on"
repeat:
- 15
- 30
- 60
- 120
can_acknowledge: true
skip_first: true
title: "7580 Critical Alert - Kitchen Freezer Temperature"
message: >
Temperature is {{ states('sensor.kitchen_freezer_temperature') }} F \
Triggered: {{ as_timestamp(states.binary_sensor.kitchen_refrigerator_alert_active.last_changed) | timestamp_custom('%A %I:%M%p (%d-%b-%Y)') }}
done_message: "Kitchen Freezer Temperature RESOLVED at {{ as_timestamp(states.binary_sensor.kitchen_refrigerator_alert_active.last_changed) | timestamp_custom('%A %I:%M%p (%d-%b-%Y)') }}"
notifiers:
- STD_Critical
UPS on battery (CRIT)
- Input Boolean turns on/off the alerts
- Display
- Alert is shown when UPS not online
- Notification
- Notification occurs after 5, 15, 25, and 85 minutes and repeats every 60 minutes
- Acknowledging alert stops further notifications
- RESOLVED notification once alert is no longer active
input_boolean:
techrack_ups_notify:
name: Techrack UPS Notify
icon: mdi:alert
template:
- binary_sensor:
- name: Techrack UPS Alert Active
state: "{{ ('OL' not in states('sensor.techrack_ups_status_data')[:2]) and is_state('input_boolean.techrack_ups_notify', 'on') }}"
availability: "{{ states('sensor.techrack_ups_status_data') not in ['unavailable', 'unknown', 'none'] }}"
alert:
techrack_ups_crit_alert_active:
name: Techrack UPS Alert Active
entity_id: binary_sensor.techrack_ups_alert_active
state: "on"
repeat:
- 5
- 10
- 10
- 60
can_acknowledge: true
skip_first: false
title: "7580 Critical Alert - Techrack UPS"
message: >
Techrack UPS status {{ states('sensor.techrack_ups_status') }} with {{ states('sensor.techrack_ups_battery_runtime_minutes') }} minutes battery remaining. \
Triggered: {{ as_timestamp(states.binary_sensor.techrack_ups_alert_active.last_changed) | timestamp_custom('%A %I:%M%p (%d-%b-%Y)') }}
done_message: "Techrack UPS Alert RESOLVED at {{ as_timestamp(states.binary_sensor.techrack_ups_alert_active.last_changed) | timestamp_custom('%A %I:%M%p (%d-%b-%Y)') }}"
notifiers:
- STD_Critical
Lovelace dashboard configurations
Place at the top of your home dashboard, all cards are hidden unless alert is active.
Requires card-mod and auto-entities
title: "" ######################### Home #########################
icon: mdi:home
cards:
- type: vertical-stack
cards:
##################### Show active critical alerts
- type: custom:auto-entities
show_empty: false
card:
type: entities
title: Active Critical Alerts
card_mod:
style: |
ha-card {
background-color: rgba(251,13,13,1);
border-radius: 5px;
--primary-color: white;
--paper-item-icon-color: white;
--secondary-text-color: white;
}
filter:
include:
- entity_id: "/^alert(.).*_crit_alert_active/"
options:
secondary_info: last-changed
exclude:
- state: "off"
- state: idle
sort:
method: last_changed
reverse: true
##################### Show active warning alerts
- type: custom:auto-entities
show_empty: false
card:
type: entities
title: Active Warnings
card_mod:
style: |
ha-card {
background-color: rgba(204,102,0,1);
border-radius: 5px;
--primary-color: white;
--paper-item-icon-color: white;
--secondary-text-color: white;
}
filter:
include:
- entity_id: "/^alert(.).*_warn_alert_active/"
options:
secondary_info: last-changed
exclude:
- state: "off"
- state: idle
- state: unavailable
sort:
method: last_changed
reverse: true
##################### Show active information
- type: custom:auto-entities
show_empty: false
card:
type: entities
title: Active Information
card_mod:
style: |
ha-card {
background-color: rgba(68,115,158,1);
border-radius: 5px;
--primary-color: white;
--paper-item-icon-color: white;
--secondary-text-color: white;
}
filter:
include:
- entity_id: "/^alert(.).*_info_alert_active/"
options:
secondary_info: last-changed
exclude:
- state: "off"
- state: idle
sort:
method: last_changed
reverse: true
##################### Show acknowledged alerts
- type: custom:auto-entities
show_empty: false
card:
type: entities
title: Acknowledged Alerts
card_mod:
style: |
ha-card {
background-color: rgba(68,115,158,1);
border-radius: 5px;
--primary-color: white;
--paper-item-icon-color: white;
--secondary-text-color: white;
}
filter:
include:
- domain: alert
options:
secondary_info: last-changed
exclude:
- state: "on"
- state: idle
sort:
method: last_changed
reverse: true
##################### Show tripped water sensors
- type: custom:auto-entities
show_empty: false
card:
type: entities
title: Water Issues
card_mod:
style: |
ha-card {
background-color: rgba(251,13,13,1);
border-radius: 5px;
--primary-color: white;
--paper-item-icon-color: white;
--secondary-text-color: white;
}
filter:
include:
- attributes:
device_class: moisture
options:
secondary_info: last-changed
exclude:
- state: "off"
- state: unavailable
##################### Show down devices
- type: custom:auto-entities
show_empty: false
card:
type: entities
title: Tech Issues
card_mod:
style: |
ha-card {
background-color: rgba(204,102,0,1);
border-radius: 5px;
--primary-color: white;
--paper-item-icon-color: white;
--secondary-text-color: white;
}
filter:
include:
- group: group.network_devices
options:
secondary_info: last-changed
- group: group.server_devices
options:
secondary_info: last-changed
- group: group.wan_devices
options:
secondary_info: last-changed
exclude:
- state: "on"
- state: unavailable
##################### Show uptimes of restarted devices for 10 minutes
- type: custom:auto-entities
show_empty: false
card:
type: entities
title: Information
card_mod:
style: |
ha-card {
background-color: rgba(68,115,158,1);
border-radius: 5px;
--primary-color: white;
--paper-item-icon-color: white;
--secondary-text-color: white;
}
filter:
template: |
{{ expand('group.device_uptimes') | selectattr('state', 'match', '[0-9] minutes') | map(attribute='entity_id') | list | join(', ') }}
###################### Show possible issues (Requires some tuning of exclusions for your instance)
- type: custom:auto-entities
show_empty: false
card:
type: entities
title: Possible Issues
card_mod:
style: |
ha-card {
background-color: rgba(68,115,158,1);
border-radius: 5px;
--primary-color: white;
--paper-item-icon-color: white;
--secondary-text-color: white;
}
show_header_toggle: false
filter:
include:
- state: "unknown"
- state: "unavailable"
exclude:
- entity_id: "device_tracker.*"
- entity_id: "person.*"
- entity_id: "group.*"
- entity_id: "scene.*"
- entity_id: "sensor.stokerbbq*"
- entity_id: "sensor.*_last_ding"
- entity_id: "switch.wall*_dimmer*"
- entity_id: "button.*"
- entity_id: "sensor.weatherflow_wind_*"
- entity_id: "sensor.weatherflow_feels_*"
