liveBook · Manning

Silencing

As explained in Cloud Observability in Action

Silencing is the deliberate suppression of notifications for selected alerts, typically for a known maintenance or operational condition.

Silencing deliberately suppresses notifications for selected alerts when an operational condition is already known, such as planned Kubernetes node maintenance. The alert may still fire, but its notification is suppressed proactively through Alertmanager. section 7.2.1

Silencing occupies one stage in Alertmanager’s notification pipeline:

  • Inhibition suppresses related notifications when another alert is already firing; silencing suppresses notifications ad hoc before or during a known event. section 7.2.1
  • Routing, grouping, throttling, and receivers determine who receives remaining notifications and how they are delivered. section 7.2.1

Planned Kubernetes node upgrade

During a node upgrade, nodes may go down temporarily. Creating a silence prevents predictable node-related notifications from distracting operators while the maintenance proceeds; unrelated alerts can continue through routing and delivery. section 7.2.1

Figure 7.2 Prometheus and the Alertmanager

Use the Prometheus–Alertmanager architecture diagram to locate silencing within the path from alert rules to notifications. section 7.2.1

How Cloud Observability in Action covers it

How deep it goes
Defines silencing within Alertmanager’s notification pipeline and contrasts it with inhibition, but does not detail silence configuration syntax.
Examples
Uses a Kubernetes node upgrade as the concrete case for suppressing expected temporary outages.
What it assumes
Assumes familiarity with alerting rules and introduces Alertmanager’s notification-processing stages.
What you can do after
Operate/configure Alertmanager notifications by suppressing expected alerts during planned operational events.
How it connects
Connects alerting rules, Prometheus, Alertmanager, inhibition, routing, grouping, throttling, and notification receivers.
Cover of Cloud Observability in Action
liveBookmanning.com
Read Cloud Observability in Action on liveBook Get the book at manning.com

This explainer was generated by Manning's knowledge graph from the text of Cloud Observability in Action. The section links point to the parts of the book it draws on.