Create real-time alerts

Use a real-time alert to monitor events or event patterns as they happen. You can create real-time alerts with per-result triggering or rolling time window triggering. Real-time alerts can be costly in terms of computing resources, so consider using a scheduled alert when possible.

To compare scheduled and real-time alerts, see Alert types. To review scenarios for alert types and triggering, see Alert type and triggering scenarios.

Create a real-time alert with per-result triggering

Real-time alerts with per-result triggering are sometimes known as per-result alerts. This alert type and triggering use a continuous real-time search to look for events. Each search result triggers the alert.

Caution: If you have a Splunk Enterprise high-availability deployment, use per-result triggering with caution. If a peer is not available, a real-time search does not warn that the search might be incomplete. To avoid this issue, use a scheduled alert

Follow these steps to create a real-time alert with per-result triggering.

  1. Navigate to the Search page in the Search & Reporting app.
  2. Create a search.
  3. Select Save As > Alert.
  4. Enter a title and optional description.
  5. Specify permissions.
  6. Select the Real-time alert type.
  7. (Optional) Change the Expires setting. This setting controls the lifespan of triggered alert records, which appear on the Triggered Alerts page.
  8. Select the Per-Result trigger option.
  9. (Optional) Configure a trigger throttling period.
  10. Select at least one alert action that occurs when the alert triggers.
  11. Click Save.

Create a real-time alert with rolling window triggering

Real-time alerts with rolling time window triggering are sometimes known as rolling window alerts. The rolling time window is an interval or increment, such as five minutes. It is not a scheduled time. Because real-time alerts search continuously, the time window applied to events also rolls forward in time.

Use this alert type and triggering when a specific time interval is part of the event pattern you are monitoring in real time. This alert type and triggering are the most resource-demanding alerting option. It can be helpful to consider using another alert type if possible.

Follow these steps to create a real-time alert with rolling window triggering.

  1. Navigate to the Search page in the Search & Reporting app.
  2. Create a search.
  3. Select Save As > Alert.
  4. Enter a title and an optional description.
  5. Specify permissions.
  6. Select the Real-time alert type.
  7. (Optional) Change the Expires setting. This setting controls the lifespan of triggered alert records, which appear on the Triggered Alerts page.
  8. Select one of the available result-based conditions, or enter a custom triggering condition. Do not select per-result triggering.
  9. Specify a time interval to add to the triggering condition.
  10. (Optional) Configure a trigger throttling period.
  11. Select at least one alert action that occurs when the alert triggers.
  12. Click Save.

Additional resources