Prometheus alerting transforms metrics into actionable notifications. Well-designed alerts catch real problems without overwhelming teams with noise. Alert fatigue from excessive alerts causes teams to ignore critical notifications.
Alert Design Principles
Alert on symptoms users experience, not causes. Use for clauses preventing flapping from transient issues. Set appropriate severity levels routing alerts correctly. Include runbook links enabling quick response.
- Alert on user-impacting symptoms like error rates and latency
- Use for duration preventing alerts from brief spikes
- Include clear descriptions with context and remediation guidance
- Set severity levels matching business impact
- Test alerts before production deployment
Reducing Alert Noise
Group related alerts preventing notification storms. Use inhibition rules suppressing dependent alerts. Silence alerts during maintenance windows. Regularly review and tune alerts based on incident data.