Summary
In this chapter, we took a close look at how alerts work in the realm of IT systems and why they are an important part of an observability platform. Alerts are essentially the signals or messages that pop up to say, Hey, check this out, something might be off, much like a notification.
We went over what an alert is, how it differs from incidents, and the key parts that make up an alert’s data structure—the standard way these signals are built and used. We also walked through some practical techniques to aggregate and correlate alerts.
We brought some of these concepts to life by setting up a lab environment and following a structured approach that mirrors the real-world needs of IT teams. We discussed how understanding the specific alert requirements of network stakeholders, such as the network operations team, can guide optimal alert rule creation. Using Prometheus and Loki, we demonstrated how to configure these tools to monitor network health and trigger...
