Planning Channels
Proper planning can significantly improve operational efficiency.| Scenario | Recommended Approach | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| Independent business teams | Create channels by team | Clean alert data, precise escalation rules |
| Multiple businesses sharing monitoring | Create channels by business module | Avoid configuration confusion, reduce misassignment |
Creating a Channel
Select Owning Team
Select Owning Team, members of this team have full operational permissions for the channel
Set Managing Team (Optional)
If you need to delegate channel management permissions to other teams, set Managing Teams (up to 3). When set, managing teams take over management permissions (edit, delete, etc.) from the owning team, but both teams retain read access. This feature must be enabled by contacting the Flashduty team; it is not enabled by default.
Set Access Level
- Public: Visible to all users in the account, can view and operate incidents but cannot modify channel configuration
- Private: Only visible to the owning team (or managing team), creator, and account administrators
Configure Auto-resolve Timeout (Optional)
Enable the auto-resolve timeout toggle, then configure the following parameters:
- Window timing start: Select Incident trigger (timer starts from when the incident is first triggered, suitable for alerts without automatic recovery) or Alerts stop merging (timer starts from the last alert merge, suitable for scenarios with alert grouping enabled)
- Timeout duration: Set the timeout duration in minutes, hours, or days, up to a maximum of 30 days
Configure Close with Alerts (Optional)
Enabled by default. When enabled, incidents automatically close when all associated alerts recover. When disabled, alert recovery does not auto-close the incident — you need to close it manually or rely on the auto-close timeout policy.
Enable Outlier Incident Detection (Optional)
When enabled, incident lists and notification content will include an “Outlier Incident” indicator for quick identification. Learn more
Enable External Reporting (Optional)
When enabled, external personnel can submit incident tickets via a shareable external reporting link without logging in. The system generates a shareable link that you can distribute to external personnel. Disabling external reporting immediately invalidates all previously shared links; re-enabling generates a new link.
You can skip escalation rules or integration configuration during creation and manage them later in the channel.
Configuring Core Capabilities
After creating a channel, go to the Configuration tab on the details page to complete the following configurations. The Configuration tab uses a sidebar menu organized into functional groups:- Integrate Data: Dedicated Integrations, Drop Rules
- Noise Reduction: Alert Grouping, Flapping Detection, Silence Rules, Inhibit Rules
- Notification & Assignment: Escalation Rules
- Settings: Basic Info, Advanced Settings
Integrate Alerts
Create alert integrations in Configuration → Integrate Data → Dedicated Integrations to bring monitoring system alerts into this channel.- Each integration type generates an independent Webhook address
Configure Drop Rules
Configure rules in Configuration → Integrate Data → Drop Rules to filter out events that have entered the channel but don’t need processing (such as test data or invalid alerts). Dropped events will not generate new alerts or merge into existing alerts.Set Filter Conditions
Configure filter conditions — supports matching by Integration Source and Severity.
Multiple drop rules are executed sequentially in list order. If any rule matches, the event is dropped. You can drag to adjust the execution priority of rules.
Configure Escalation Rules
Define incident notification paths in Configuration → Notification & Assignment → Escalation Rules: who to notify, how to notify, and how to escalate on timeout.- Multiple rules are matched from top to bottom by priority, matching stops on first match
- Drag to adjust rule order
Configure Noise Reduction
Configure noise reduction capabilities under Configuration → Noise Reduction to converge massive alerts into fewer incidents:| Capability | Navigation Path | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Alert Grouping | Noise Reduction → Alert Grouping | Merge similar alerts from the same host or service into one incident |
| Flapping Detection | Noise Reduction → Flapping Detection | Automatically identify and suppress alerts that oscillate repeatedly in a short time |
| Silence Rules | Noise Reduction → Silence Rules | Temporarily suppress alert notifications under specific conditions during scheduled maintenance windows or specific time periods |
| Inhibit Rules | Noise Reduction → Inhibit Rules | Reduce redundant notifications using dependencies between alerts |
Configure Links
You can configure custom links in a channel. These links are displayed on the details page of all incidents and alerts within the channel. Links support variable templates for dynamically building URLs, referencing incident or alert attributes and label values. Typical use cases include:- Jumping to a related operations ticket system
- Linking to an internal knowledge base or Runbook
- Opening a related monitoring dashboard
Template Variable Syntax
Use${variable_name} in the link URL to reference incident or alert property values. The system automatically replaces variables with actual values when rendering links.
Supported variables:
| Variable | Description |
|---|---|
${title} | Incident/alert title |
${incident_id} | Incident ID |
${alert_id} | Alert ID |
${num} | Incident number |
${description} | Incident/alert description |
${incident_severity} | Incident severity |
${alert_severity} | Alert severity |
${channel_id} | Channel ID |
${progress} | Incident processing progress |
${start_time} | Trigger time |
${end_time} | Close time |
${labels.KEY} | Alert label value — replace KEY with the label name, e.g., ${labels.service} |
${fields.KEY} | Custom field value — replace KEY with the field identifier, e.g., ${fields.actions} |
Open Modes
Links support two open modes:| Mode | Description |
|---|---|
| Open in New Tab | Clicking the link opens the target URL in a new browser tab |
| Open in Embedded iframe | Clicking the link opens an iframe popup on the current page, embedding the target page directly |
Each channel can be associated with up to 3 links. Create links through the Integration Center, then select the associated channels in the link configuration.
Managing Channels
Finding Channels
- Click the Star on channel cards to bookmark frequently used channels
- Quickly locate target channels through Team Filter or My Favorites
- Use the Sort function in the upper right corner to enter sort mode, drag and drop channel cards to adjust display order; the sort order takes effect for all users
Changing Configuration
Go to Channel Details, then navigate to Configuration → Settings to modify configuration: Basic Info (Configuration → Settings → Basic Info):- Channel name, description
- Owning team
- Managing team (must be enabled by contacting the Flashduty team; up to 3 managing teams; when set, managing teams take over management permissions from the owning team)
- Access level (public or private)
- Close with alerts toggle
- Auto-resolve timeout (toggle, window timing start, timeout duration)
- Outlier incident detection
- External reporting (when enabled, generates a shareable link for external personnel to submit incident tickets without logging in)
Disabling and Deleting
| Action | Description |
|---|---|
| Disable | Stop receiving new alerts, preserve historical data and configuration |
| Delete | Permanently destroy channel and all configuration, including incident data, irreversible |
Handling Incidents
Handle incidents in the Incident List tab:- Filter by Processing Status for triggered, acknowledged, closed, etc.
- Select multiple incidents with the same status for Batch Close or Batch Acknowledge
- Use Merge to combine incidents pointing to the same root cause, supports cross-channel merging
FAQ
What's the difference between owning team, managing team, and access level?
What's the difference between owning team, managing team, and access level?
- Owning Team: The team that owns the channel and has full management permissions (edit, delete, etc.) by default
- Managing Team: When set, managing teams take over management permissions (edit, delete, etc.) from the owning team, but both teams retain read access. This feature must be enabled by contacting the Flashduty team
- Access Level: Controls who can see the channel and its incidents. Public channels are visible to everyone but only the owning team (or managing team) can modify configuration; private channels are only visible to the owning team (or managing team)
How to configure auto-resolve timeout?
How to configure auto-resolve timeout?
Enable the auto-resolve timeout toggle in Advanced Settings, then select a window timing start and timeout duration:
- Window timing start set to Incident trigger: Timer starts from when the incident is first triggered, suitable for alert sources without automatic recovery events and when alert grouping is not enabled
- Window timing start set to Alerts stop merging: Timer starts from the last alert merge, suitable for scenarios with alert grouping enabled, ensuring all alerts within the grouping window are processed
- Timeout duration supports minutes, hours, or days as units, up to a maximum of 30 days
Is incident data still available after deleting a channel?
Is incident data still available after deleting a channel?
No, channel configuration (integrations, escalation rules, etc.) will be permanently deleted and cannot be recovered.
Related Topics
Integrate Data
Bring monitoring system alerts into the channel
Configure Escalation Rules
Define alert notification and escalation rules
Configure Noise Reduction
Reduce alert bombardment, improve processing efficiency