Notification Channels

This article explains multiple notification channels, including email, webhook, or Teams, and their configuration procedures to send a notification to the user when an anomaly is detected in a system.

Overview

A channel serves as the communication medium for delivering notifications. Channels can be thought of as the destinations where users intend to receive notifications.

The delivery of notifications can be configured using the following channels:

Email Notifications

Email notifications are automatically triggered when specific actions are performed by a user or when events are generated within the system. These email notifications serve as important reminders, drawing your attention to urgent situations that require immediate action.

Notifications are delivered based on the timing preferences set. If notifications are restricted to business hours and business hours are defined, alerts will be sent only during that specified period.

Refer here for Configuring a Notification via Email.

Webhook Notifications

A webhook is an HTTP request, triggered by an event in a source system and sent to a destination system, often with a payload of data. Webhooks are automated, in other words, they are automatically sent out when their event is fired in the source system. Refer here for Configuring a Notification via Webhook.

You can create multiple webhook channels depending on your needs, each channel targets different recipients, and separate applications. The most commonly used webhook methods are POST or GET. 

Notifications are delivered based on the timing preferences set. If notifications are restricted to business hours and business hours are defined, alerts will be sent only during that specified period.

Microsoft Teams Notifications

Notifications in Microsoft Teams serve as real-time alerts and updates to keep users informed about various activities and interactions happening within their Teams environment. To differentiate various events in the Microsoft teams chat window, different icons are used when a signal,or a Situation or an ActOn is created. You can identify the event triggered without having to go through each detail related to the event.

Notifications are delivered based on the timing preferences set. If notifications are restricted to business hours and business hours are defined, alerts will be sent only during that specified period.

Refer here for Configuring a Notification via Microsoft Teams.

Slack notifications

Slack notifications are real-time alerts sent to the configured Slack channel when an event is triggered from any of these sources, such as a signal, situation, ActOn, or an entity. For instance, while configuring the Slack channel, if you select the source as ActOn and the event as 'created,' then whenever an ActOn is created, a notification is sent to the configured Slack channel. Likewise, if you configure the source as Signal and the event as 'Priority changed,' you will receive a notification when the priority of the signal on the platform changes.

You must first create an app on your Slack and link this app to one of the channels in your Slack workspace to generate the webhook URL. This webhook URL must later be configured in the Resolution Intelligence Cloud platform to start receiving timely updates on the Slack channel. Notifications are delivered based on the timing preferences set. If notifications are restricted to business hours and business hours are defined, alerts will be sent only during that specified period.

Refer here for Configuring a Slack channel.

Google Workspace notifications

Google notifications are real-time alerts sent to a configured Google Space. To set this up, first create a channel by configuring the webhook URL of your Google Space. Then, link the channel to system notifications by specifying the source—such as ActOn, Entity, Signal, or Situation—and the relevant events (e.g., created, updated, deleted).

Whenever an event is triggered from the selected source, a notification is sent to the configured channel to keep users informed. Notifications are delivered based on the timing preferences set. If notifications are restricted to business hours and business hours are defined, alerts will be sent only during that specified period.

Refer here for Configuring a Google space.

Webex space notifications

Webex notifications are real-time alerts sent to a configured Space. To set this up, first create a channel by configuring the webhook URL of your Webex Space. Then, link the channel to system notifications by specifying the source—such as ActOn, Entity, Signal, or Situation—and the relevant events (e.g., created, updated, deleted). The Webex space must be created first and then generate Webhook URL using Cisco Webex Incoming Webhooks app. 

Whenever an event is triggered from the selected source, a notification is sent to the configured channel to keep users informed. Notifications are delivered based on the timing preferences set

Pub/Sub notifications

Pub/Sub notifications are sent to a configured topic within a GCP project whenever an ActOn, Entity, Signal, or Situation is created, updated, or deleted. The alerts sent to GCP depend on the selected sources and event types.

To enable this integration:

1. Create a Pub/Sub topic in your GCP project. The notifications from Resolution Intelligence Cloud are published to this topic when a Pub/Sub channel is configured.

2. Upload a service account JSON key file that contains the public and private keys required for Resolution Intelligence Cloud to publish notifications to the configured Pub/Sub topic.

Once set up, notifications are automatically triggered based on the defined sources and event types, and are delivered to the Pub/Sub topic. Delivery is also governed by the notification timing preferences configured in your system notification settings.

Configuring a Notification via Email

Resolution Intelligence Cloud provides you with an interactive interface to configure a notification via email addresses.

User Permissions Required:

• Global Admin
• Configuration Manager
• User with an Owner role

To configure an email,

1. Do one of the following to access configurations:

•  
  • Click the Configurations icon at the top of the navigation bar
  • Click the hamburger menu on the left and select CONFIGURATIONS

2. From the left menu, under Notifications, click Channels
You will be redirected to the Channels page

3. Click Create New Channel. The Add Channel page appears. 

4. Under Email tile, click Configure 
An email form appears 

5. Enter an Email a name and Description (optional)

6. In the SMTP relay, select a Domain from the drop-down list. For example, @accelero.com
Note: The domain is obtained after configuring the SendGrid integration.

7. In To Address field, enter one or more user email addresses to which the notification is to be sent

8. In Max Size of attachment, select a value (5 or 10 MB)

9. Under Maximum Hourly email slider, set a discrete value (from 25 to 250)
For example, if you set the value at 50, Resolution Intelligence Cloud will send 50 email notifications to the responder.

10. Click Submit

Before submitting your channel, you can test whether email notifications are delivered to the given email addresses or not using the Create a test option at the bottom. 

Testing an Email Delivery

To test an email delivery,

1. Click Create a test
   A dialog box opens
2. From Address and To address fields are prefilled as your entries configured during Channel Configuration
3. Enter Subject and Message
4. Click Send e-mail
   A pop-up appears on the top: "Your message has been delivered successfully."

Configuring a Notification via Webhook 

User Permissions Required:

• Global Admin
• Configuration Manager
• User with an Owner role

The webhook channels are comprised of the following attributes:

To configure a webhook,

1. Do one of the following to access configurations:

•  
  • Click the Configurations icon at the top of the navigation bar
  • Click the hamburger menu on the left and select CONFIGURATIONS

2. From the left menu, under Notifications, click Channels
You will be redirected to the Channels page

3. Click Create New Channel. The Add Channel page appears. 

4. Under Webhook tile, click Configure 
A webhook form appears

5. Enter webhook a name

6. Enter Description (Optional)

7. Under HTTP details, select HTTP method

1.  
   • POST (by default)
   • GET

8. Enter a Webhook URL. For example, https://ingest.netenrich.net

9. Under HTTP header request, enter header name and header value

10. Under Authorization details, select any one of the following:

•  
  • Basic: Username and password are required
  • OAuth: An OAuth key is required
  • Token: A secret key is required
  • No Auth: No authentication details are required

11. In Connection Timeout, enter time in seconds (by default, 30 seconds)

12. Click Submit

Create an Incoming Webhook URL for a Microsoft Teams Channel

To create an incoming webhook URL:

1. Click the ellipses icon corresponding to the team in which you want to create a channel and select Add Channel. The Create a channel window appears. 

2. Specify this information:

Channel Name - The name of the channel.

Description - The description of the channel.

Privacy - Restrict people who can have access to this channel. 

3. Click Add to create a team's channel. 

4. From the channels window, click the ellipses icon and select Connectors. The connectors window appears. 

5. Select incoming Webhook connector from the connectors list available for the team and click Configure corresponding to this connector.  The Connectors for this channel in a specific team window appears.

6. Provide the name for the Webhook. 

7. Click Create. This generates the webhook URL. 

8. Click the copy icon to copy the webhook URL generated for this channel and click Done. 

Configuring a Notification via Microsoft Teams

User Permissions Required:

• Global Admin
• Configuration Manager
• User with an Owner role

To configure Microsoft Teams Channel,

1. Do one of the following to access configurations:

•  
  • Click the Configurations icon at the top of the navigation bar.
  • Click the hamburger menu on the left and select CONFIGURATIONS.

2. From the left menu, under Notifications, click Channels
You will be redirected to the Channels page

3. Click Create New Channel. The Add Channel page appears. 

4. Under Microsoft Teams tile, click Configure 
A Microsoft Teams form opens

5. Enter the name for the channel. 

6. Enter Description (Optional)

7. Under Microsoft Teams details, select POST HTTP method

8. Enter a webhook URL. To get a webhook URL, refer to this documentation. 

9. In Connection Timeout, enter time in seconds (by default, 60 sec)

10. Click Run test to test if the webhook URL entered is valid and is able to sent a notification to the team's channel.  

11. Click Submit

You must create a policy to get a notification to the configured channel when a signal is generated, situation is created or Acton is triggered. For more information, refer to Notification policies. 

Creating an Incoming webhook URL for a Slack Channel

Use this procedure to create an incoming webhook URL for a slack channel.

Create an app

1. Login to Slack with valid credentials.
2. Navigate to your slack name and select Tools & settings and then select Manage apps. This opens the Slack app directory.
3. Click Build option on top of this page or navigate to the https://api.slack.com/apps/  to view your apps.
4. Click Create New App.

This opens the Create an app window.

5. Select the From scratch option. This opens the Name app & choose workspace window.

6. Specify this information:

App Name – The name of the app.

Pick a workspace to develop your app in – Select the workspace in which you want to create this app.

7. Click Create App. This opens the Basic Information page.

Create an Incoming Webhook

8. Select Incoming Webhooks. This opens the Incoming Webhooks page.

9. Turn ON the Activate Incoming Webhooks toggle. This expands the Webhook URLs for your workspace section.

10. Click Add New Webhook to Workspace. The app prompts you to provide permission to access the workspace. This can be done by linking the app to one of the channels in your workspace.

11. Select the channel to which you want to add the app.

12. Click Allow. This creates the webhook URL.

13. Click Copy corresponding to the Webhook URL column and configure this URL in your Resolution Intelligence Cloud while creating a channel.

Configuring a Slack channel

Prerequisites

Before configuring Slack as a notification channel to receive alerts, you ensure to have:

• Incoming webhook URL – Follow these steps to create webhook URL in the Slack workspace. This URL must be configured in the Resolution Intelligence Cloud platform to send alerts to the Slack channel. 

User Permissions Required:

• Global Admin
• Configuration Manager
• User with an Owner role

To configure a Slack channel:

1. Do one of the following to access configurations:
   • Click the Configurations icon  at the top of the navigation bar.
   • Click the hamburger menu on the left and select CONFIGURATIONS.
2. From the left menu, under Notifications, click Channels You will be redirected to the Channels page.
3. Click Create New Channel. This opens the Add Channel screen.
4. Under Slack tile, click Configure. A Slack form opens.

5. Enter the name to appear as a display name in the Slack channel. 

6. Enter Description (Optional)

7. Under Slack details, select POST HTTP method.

8. Enter the webhook URL of the slack channel to where you want to post the notifications. To get a webhook URL, refer to this documentation

9. In Connection Timeout, enter the maximum time to receive the response from the server. By default, 60 seconds is set.

10. Click Run test to test if the webhook URL entered is valid and is sending a notification to the configured Slack channel.

11. Click Submit.

Create an Incoming Webhook URL for a Google Workspace

Use this procedure to create an incoming Webhook URL for a Google Workspace.

1. Log in to your Google Workspace account.
2. Select the Google Workspace instance where you want to redirect messages.
3. Navigate to Apps and Integrations by clicking on the selected workspace.

4. In the Webhooks section, click + Add Webhook to generate a new incoming webhook URL.

5. Enter a name for the webhook and click Save. This action generates the Webhook URL.
6. To copy the webhook URL, click the ellipsis (⋮) icon next to the desired webhook and select Copy link. Paste this URL while adding a Google Workspace channel in Resolution Intelligence Cloud.

Configuring a Google Workspace channel

Prerequisites

Before configuring Google Workspace as a notification channel to receive alerts, you ensure to have:

• Incoming webhook URL – Follow these steps to create webhook URL for a Google workspace. This URL must be configured in the Resolution Intelligence Cloud platform to send alerts to the configured Google workspace. 

User Permissions Required:

• Global Admin
• Configuration Manager
• User with an Owner role

To configure a Google Workspace channel:

1. Do one of the following to access configurations:
   • Click the Configurations icon  at the top of the navigation bar.
   • Click the hamburger menu on the left and select CONFIGURATIONS.
2. From the left menu, under Notifications, click Channels You will be redirected to the Channels page.
3. Click Create New Channel. This opens the Add Channel screen.
4. Under Google Workspace tile, click Configure. The Add Channel - Google Workspace page opens.

5. Enter the name to appear as a display name in the Google Workspace channel. 

6. Enter Description (Optional)

7. Under Google Workspace details, enter the webhook URL of the Google Workspace channel to where you want to post the notifications. To get a webhook URL, refer to this documentation

9. In Connection Timeout, enter the maximum time to receive the response from the server. By default, 60 seconds is set.

10. Click Send Test Message test to test if the webhook URL entered is valid and is sending a notification to the configured Google Workspace channel.

11. Click Submit.

Create an Incoming Webhook URL for a Webex Space

Use this procedure to generate incoming Webhook URL for a Webex space. 

1. Login to Webex and create a Webex space.
2. Navigate to the Cisco Webex Incoming Webhooks app (https://apphub.webex.com/applications/incoming-webhooks-cisco-systems-38054-23307-75252)

3. Click Connect. This takes you to the following page. 

4. Provide a webhook name and select the space for which you want to generate the webhook URL to receive notifications from RIC for the selected events and source.

5. Click Add to generate the webhook URL. Copy this URL to use it when creating the Webex channel in Resolution Intelligence Cloud.

Configuring a Webex channel 

Prerequisites

Before configuring Webex space as a notification channel to receive alerts, you ensure to have:

• Incoming webhook URL – Follow these steps to get Webhook URL for a Webex space. This URL must be configured in the Resolution Intelligence Cloud platform to send alerts to the Webex space. 

User Permissions Required:

• Global Admin
• Configuration Manager
• User with an Owner role

To configure a Webex space channel:

1. Do one of the following to access configurations:
   • Click the Configurations icon  at the top of the navigation bar.
   • Click the hamburger menu on the left and select CONFIGURATIONS.
2. From the left menu, under Notifications, click Channels You will be redirected to the Channels page.
3. Click Create New Channel. This opens the Add Channel screen.

4. Under Webex tile, click Configure. The Add Channel - Webex space page opens.
5. Enter the name to appear as a display name in the Webex channel.
6. Enter Description (Optional)
7. Under Webex details, enter the webhook URL of the Webex space channel to where you want to post the notifications. To get a webhook URL, refer to this documentation.
8. In Connection Timeout, enter the maximum time to receive the response from the server. By default, 60 seconds is set.
9. Click Send Test Message test to test if the webhook URL entered is valid and is sending a notification to the configured Webex space channel.
10. Click Submit.

Creating a topic and Generating a Service Account JSON file

Use this procedure to create a topic and generate service account JSON file. 

1. Log in to Google Cloud.

2. Create a topic in the GCP project where you want to receive messages or notifications from Resolution Intelligence Cloud.

3. To create a service account in GCP, you must have the appropriate permissions. The pubsub.publisher and pubsub.viewer roles are required for interacting with Pub/Sub resources. The Publisher role allows the service account to publish messages to the Pub/Sub topic, while the Viewer role allows it to view topics and subscriptions. The service account is used to authenticate and authorize communication between Resolution Intelligence Cloud (or Pub/Sub channel) and Google Cloud Pub/Sub.

4. Once the service account is created, download its key file in JSON format. This file must be uploaded when creating the Pub/Sub channel in Resolution Intelligence Cloud to enable authentication.

Configuring a Pub/Sub Channel

Prerequisites

Before configuring pub/sub topic to publish notification messages, you ensure to have:

• Pub/Sub Topic Name
• GCP Project ID
• Service Account JSON Credentials

User Permissions Required:

• Global Admin
• Configuration Manager
• User with an Owner role

To configure a Pub/Sub channel:

1. Do one of the following to access configurations:
   • Click the Configurations icon  at the top of the navigation bar.
   • Click the hamburger menu on the left and select CONFIGURATIONS.
2. From the left menu, under Notifications, click Channels You will be redirected to the Channels page.
3. Click Create New Channel. This opens the Add Channel screen.
4. Under Pub/Sub tile, click Configure. The Add Channel - Pub/Sub page opens.
5. Enter the name to appear as a display name in the Pub/Sub topic.
6. Enter Description (Optional)
7. Under Pub/Sub details, enter the Topic Name and GCP Project ID.
8. Click Choose File to upload the file containing private and public keys to authenticate and establish communication between Pub/Sub channel subscriber and Google Cloud Pub/Sub. To create a topic and download service account JSON file, refer to this documentation.
9. Click Send Test Message test to test if the notification is being sent to the configured Pub/Sub topic.
10. Click Submit.

Managing Notification Channels

Editing a channel

To edit a channel,

1. Do one of the following to access configurations: 

• Click the Configurations icon at the top of the navigation bar.
• Click the hamburger menu on the left and select CONFIGURATIONS.

2. From the left menu, under Notifications, click Channels
You will be redirected to the Channels page

3. Click any channel that you would like to edit

4. Click Edit at the top right corner. 
A channel form appears.

5. Edit the details and click Update

Deleting a Channel

To delete a channel,

1. Do one of the following to access configurations: 

• Click the Configurations icon at the top of the navigation bar.
• Click the hamburger menu on the left and select CONFIGURATIONS.

2. From the left menu, under Notifications, click Channels
You will be redirected to the Channels page

3. Click three dots next to channel that you would like to remove

4. Click Delete from the drop-down list 
A confirmation message popup appears

5. Click Yes to proceed 
A Channel will be removed from the listing page

Bulk deleting Channels

To delete the channels in bulk,

1. Do one of the following to access configurations:

• Click the Configurations icon at the top of the navigation bar.
• Click the hamburger menu on the left and select CONFIGURATIONS.

2. From the left menu, under Notifications, click Channels
You will be redirected to the Channels page

3. Select the multiple channels that you would like to remove

4. Click Delete at the top right corner.