Enable Phone Call Notifications for Grafana Alerts

When monitoring critical systems, sometimes email notifications aren't enough. You need a more immediate and attention-grabbing way to be notified of critical alerts. That's where Echobell's phone call notifications come in.

Why Phone Call Notifications?

• Immediate Attention: Unlike emails or push notifications that can be easily missed, phone calls are hard to ignore
• Critical Alert Awareness: Perfect for critical system failures that require immediate action
• 24/7 Alerting: Ensure you never miss critical alerts, even during sleeping hours
• Team Escalation: Set up call cascades to multiple team members if the primary contact doesn't respond

Setting Up Grafana Call Notifications

Prerequisites

1. An Echobell account with an active subscription
2. Access to your Grafana instance with admin privileges
3. A configured alert rule in Grafana

Configuration Steps

1. Create a Webhook Contact Point

   • In Grafana, navigate to Alerting → Contact points
   • Click "New contact point"
   • Select "Webhook" as the contact point type
   • Name it "Echobell Call Notifications"

2. Configure the Webhook

   • Set the URL to: https://hook.echobell.one/t/xxxx, the webhook from your Echobell channel.

3. Test the Integration

   • Use the "Test" button in Grafana to send a test notification
   • You should receive a phone call within seconds

4. Create a Notification Policy

   • Go to Alerting → Notification policies
   • Create a new policy or modify existing ones
   • Add the Echobell contact point to your desired alert rules

Best Practices

• Set Alert Thresholds Carefully: Phone calls should be reserved for truly critical alerts
• Configure Call Timeouts: Set appropriate timeout periods in Echobell to prevent alert fatigue
• Maintain Contact Lists: Keep your emergency contact list up to date
• Document Response Procedures: Ensure team members know what to do when they receive a call

Advanced Configuration

You can customize your call notifications by:

• Share your channel with team members
• Configuring retry attempts for unanswered calls
• Customizing the voice message for different types of alerts
• Setting quiet hours and backup contacts

For detailed configuration options, visit our developer documentation.

Conclusion

Phone call notifications add a crucial layer of alerting for critical systems. With Echobell's integration with Grafana, you can ensure that critical alerts are never missed and your team can respond quickly to incidents.

Start using call notifications today to improve your incident response time and system reliability.