Configuring eGauge Alerts (Modern Interface method)

New custom alerts may be added by clicking the "add" button (1) at the top, existing alerts may be deleted clicking the "delete" button (2) to the right of the message, and any existing alerts may be modified by clicking anywhere on the custom alert line.

Create or Modify Alert

Be sure to save updated or new alerts by clicking "Save" in the lower right-hand corner of the page!

When editing an existing alert or creating a new alert, you may set information about the alert and the conditions required for it to trigger:

When creating or modifying an alert, there are 7 required fields to enter:

• Name: The unique name for an alert
• Priority: Priority level for the alert. For SMTP email alerts, once an alert-destination has been notified, only alerts of higher priority result in a new notification to that destination until the alert has been acknowledged or deleted via the alerts page.
• Check frequency: How often to check the alert condition. Note, the interval frequency starts at the top of the interval. E.g., hourly is evaluated at the top of the hour, daily is evaluated at midnight, monthly at midnight on the first of the month, and so on.
• Left formula: The left-hand side of the comparison formula. This may utilize register values, static numbers, and eGauge alert functions or custom Lua functions.
• Operator: The operator to compare the left and right formulas. This may consist of:
  • Less than (<): If the left formula is less than the right formula
  • Less than or equal to (≤): If the left formula is less than or equal to the right formula
  • Equals (=): If the left formula equals the right formula
  • Not equals (≠): If the left formula does not equal the right formula
  • Greater than (>): If the left formula is greater than the right formula
  • Greater than or equal to (≥): If the left formula is greater than or equal to the right formula
• Right formula: The right-hand side of the comparison formula. This may utilize register values, static numbers, and eGauge alert functions or custom Lua functions.
• Message: The alert message that is displayed in the Alert Viewer details and any email alert messages. Several special variables may be used in the message:
  • %l: evaluated value of left formula
  • %L: formula of left formula condition
  • %r: evaluated value of right formula
  • %R: formula of right formula condition
  • %o: comparison operator of formula
  • %%: percentage character

• Report alerts to an external server: If this is enabled, when an eGauge device alerts triggers, the meter will attempt to utilize the destination configured here.
• Report alerts to...: Select the appropriate service here. See the section below for details on the different options.
• Min. alert priority to report: Only alerts with a higher priority level than this will be reported when triggered. When using an SMTP email gateway, this option is set per-email destination.

When alerts are triggered, the meter makes an outboune HTTPS POST to eGauge.net with the alert information, and in turn eGauge.net logs the alerts and sends an email to the user.

The only configuration option is Min. alert priority to report which is the minimum alert priority this destination should receive alerts for. For example, if all alerts are set to priority 0, an alert destination with a minimum alert priority of 1 will not receive any alert emails.

More information on eGuard is available here Also note that eGuard features built-in alerts - those are covered in this article.

Valid SMTP credentials and server information is required for the email-direct method. Multi-factor authentication or other high-security network applications may prevent SMTP email alerts from functioning, so the eGuard Alert Service email method is recommended.

There are several options to configure:

• Custom "From" address: The From address to send the email from. If omitted, the From address defaults to the "User" configured below. This may be required if the "User" below is not a fully qualified email address.
• Relay host: The SMTP server to send the email through. If this is left blank, the eGauge will attempt to directly send the email to the alert destination's email domain. Warning: most email servers will reject emails sent directly without a relay host.
• User: If a relay host is specified, this is the username that should be sent to the relay for authentication. Note: some servers require the full email@domain user format, while others may only require the email user format.
• Password: If a relay user is specified, this is the password that should be used to authenticate.

After configuring the server information, Alert destinations should be configured. Click on an existing destination to edit the information, or click the "Add" button in the upper right-hand corner of the table to add a new alert destination email.

When configuring a destination email, there are 3 options to configure:

• Email address: The email address to send triggered alert information to. This may or may not be the same as the SMTP relay user information configured previously.
• Min. alert priority: The minimum alert priority this destination should receive alerts for. For example, if all alerts are set to priority 0, an alert destination with a minimum alert priority of 1 will not receive any alert emails.
• Email format: The length of the email to send to the destination. The "full" format provides a fully detailed alert email, while "short" only provides the highest-priority limit to stay within 140 characters, such as for use with email-to-SMS gateway addresses.

A "Send email" button allows the testing of an outbound email to that particular email destination. If successful, the destination email will receive a test email from the meter. Warning: if no Relay Host and credentials are configured, outbound emails may not work all the time, even if an initial "Send email" test is successful.

Several configuration options are available:

• Min. alert priority to report: The minimum alert priority this destination should receive alerts for. For example, if all alerts are set to priority 0, an alert destination with a minimum alert priority of 1 will not receive any alert emails.
• Custom URL: The URL to POST alert information when triggered.
• Alert options: Any options to use when sending alerts. The available options are currently:
  • deflate: Use "deflate" content-encoding compression when posting alerts.
  • gzip: Use "gzip" content-encoding compression when posting alerts.
  • secure: For HTTPS connections, fail if the alert provider server's certificate cannot be verified.

{
  "now": "1568419537.35",
  "alerts": [
    {
      "id": 1804290019,
      "priority": 7,
      "occurrences": 12,
      "first_occurence": 4462.5,
      "last_occurence": 389.31,
      "name": "Device-configuration changed",
      "detail": "By owner."
    },
    {
      "id": 1804290035,
      "priority": 0,
      "occurrences": 1,
      "first_occurence": 0,
      "last_occurence": 0,
      "name": "Device rebooted by firmware",
      "detail": "Howdy do?"
    }
  ]
}