The "man page" for alerts.cfg says:

==================================== An example:

HOST=www.foo.com
	MAIL webmaster at foo.com SERVICE=http REPEAT=1h
	MAIL unixsupport at foo.com SERVICE=cpu,disk,memory

The first line defines a rule for alerting when something breaks on the host "www.foo.com". There are two recipients: webmaster at foo.com is notified if it is the "http" service that fails, and the notification is repeated once an hour until the problem is resolved. unixsupport at foo.com is notified if it is the "cpu", "disk" or "memory" tests that report a failure. Since there is no "REPEAT" setting for this recipient, the default is used which is to repeat the alert every 30 minutes.

OK, suppose now that the webmaster complains about getting e-mails at 4 AM in the morning. The webserver is not supposed to be running between 9 PM and 8 AM, so even though there is a problem, he doesn't want to hear about it until 7:30 - that gives him just enough time to fix the problem. So you must modify the rule so that it doesn't send out alerts until 7:30 AM:

HOST=www.foo.com
	MAIL webmaster at foo.com SERVICE=http REPEAT=1h TIME=*:0730:2100
	MAIL unixsupport at foo.com SERVICE=cpu,disk,memory

Adding the TIME setting on the recipient causes the alerts for this recipient to be suppressed, unless the time of day is within the interval. So with this setup, the webmaster gets his sleep.

This makes sense, but I'm confused and obsessing about the word "suppressed" in the second to last sentence.

Suppose http went "red" at midnight. No alert was sent then, because of the TIME keyword in the webmaster's line (unixsupport didn't get an alert either, because it wasn't configured for it).

So far, so good. Now suppose 7:30AM comes, and http is still red (no status change). What happens? Does the webmaster receive an email? Even though there is no new http status change to trigger it?

Thanks,

glauber

Glauber Ribeiro Experian Automotive, Schaumburg IL Infrastructure and Information Security e: glauber.ribeiro at experian.com p: 224-698-3108 f: 224-698-5032