Community works! - A simpler way to manage Orion email alerts

First of all, mad props to byrona for sharing this tip with the community.  I know there’s a lot of you already using this simplified email alert management trick, but I wanted to make sure to spread the word just in case.

Here’s how it works.  Instead of configuring static email addresses in the To: field of your Orion Advanced Alert notifications, use a variable (a.k.a macro).   The value of this variable can be a custom property.  

In byrona’s case, he wanted to have emails sent to the “Primary Contact” or owners of each of the nodes in the event of an issue, so he created a custom property called “Primary Contact” and entered this value for each of his nodes.   Then, when setting up alerts, he used the ${Node.PrimaryContact} variable to specify the To: address.

Simple, right?  But, you wonder as you lie awake at night, what happens if the Primary Contact hasn’t been filled in on some nodes?  Does alerting die slowly?  Well, as jainsworth verified, blank fields don’t break email alerts.  The emails just don’t get sent out for those nodes.  Sleep well.

If this gives you a few minutes back in your day and you want some community karma for yourself, please don’t be shy, share your tips and tricks with the community!