how to create a conditional alert - if api endpoint is down, don't email me about all the nodes being offline

Question

When the Aruba API goes down, I get tons of emails that all Access Points are offline:

I can't figure out what I need to add here, so if apigw-eu.. etc stops responding, don't email me about all the APs being down:

would appreciate any tips or tricks

jere557 · Answer

Two quick, dumb questions.

1. Are you sure it's this alert that's generating the email? It probably is, but just to make sure. I usually add the Alert Name to the alert email just I know exactly which alert is triggering the email.

2. Can you try a dynamic query for the group where the query Object is Wireless Access Point, not Node, and the Wireless Access Point Type Description is equal to Thin?

Unfortunately, I don't have access to my SW environment and I can only play around in the demo environment, or I'd try it on my end.

unsolicited two cents:

I usually create alerts where the Scope of the alert is the "who" of the alert, and the Trigger Condition is what actually causes the alert, this may help you see if the Thin APs are the target of the alert.  So what I would do is, in your picture, move the 3 conditions that filter which APs can trigger the alert to the Scope field, the Wireless Device Types and two Name, under the "Only following set of objects" radial button, then you should be able to "Show List" and see if your APs show up in that list.

heelomatehowyoudoing · Answer

The children don't actually show as objects; they kind of exist under the API controller in some fashion, but not as nodes I can select. That is, I have another issue where I've renamed the APs in Central, but the names haven't updated in SolarWinds, and I can't actually manually find the objects to rename them. I think it's some kind of limitation of being children of an API type node, rather than true traditional nodes.

jere557 · Answer

Can you create a group that includes all the thin APs? After that, point your child object here to that group that you created.  Under "Show Only:" on the left, you'll select Group in the dropdown and then you should be able to find the group you created as the child object.