Alert supports initial configuration of the Alert application such as configuring authentication, database, providers, and channels using environment variables. What you don’t configure here, you can configure in the Alert GUI.
Environment variable values are only used if there is no configuration data for the corresponding component in the database. Refer to the Environment Variable Classifications to understand how environment variables pertain to Alert configuration data. Edit the docker-compose.local-overrides.yml file to include the environment variables.

Editing the overrides file

• Verify that alert: is uncommented from the service section, otherwise uncomment the alert: of docker-compose.local-overrides.yml.

• Uncomment environment: from the alert service section of docker-compose.local-overrides.yml.

• Environment variables have the format - <VARIABLE_NAME>=<VARIABLE_VALUE>

• Environment variables are commented out in the docker-compose.local-overrides.yml file.

• Uncomment the environment variables to be used from the environment: section of the alert service.

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alert:
    environment:
        - ALERT_HOSTNAME=localhost

Alert hostname variable

The ALERT_HOSTNAME environment variable must be specified in order for Alert to generate and use certificates correctly.

• Add the ALERT_HOSTNAME environment variable. (The value must be the hostname only.)

  • Editing overrides file:

  Code Block
  alert: environment: - ALERT_HOSTNAME=<NEW_HOST_NAME>

  • Replace <NEW_HOST_NAME> with the hostname of the machine on which Alert is installed.

• Do not add the protocol or scheme to the value of the variable, for example:

  • Good format: ALERT_HOSTNAME=myhost.example.com

  • Bad format: ALERT_HOSTNAME=https://myhost.example.com

Alert database variables

There are more environment variables that control how Alert connects to a database, independent of the user and password secrets. These include POSTGRES_DB in the alertdb service, and ALERT_DB_HOST, ALERT_DB_PORT, and ALERT_DB_NAME in the alert service.

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• Add the ALERT_DB_HOST environment variable only if the alertdb service is using a different hostname (The value must be the hostname only of the database.)

  • Editing overrides file:

    Code Block
    alert: environment: - ALERT_DB_HOST=<DB_HOST_NAME>

  • Replace <DB_HOST_NAME> with the hostname of the machine where Postgres is installed.

  • Do not add the protocol, also known as scheme to the value of the variable.

    • Good: ALERT_DB_HOST=myhost.example.com

    • Bad: ALERT_DB_HOST=https://myhost.example.com

• Add the ALERT_DB_PORT environment variable if the alertdb service is running on a different port than the default

  • Editing overrides file:

    Code Block
    alert: environment: - ALERT_DB_PORT=<DB_PORT>

  • Replace <DB_PORT> with the port used by the Postgres database (default is 5432)

• Add the ALERT_DB_NAME environment variable if the POSTGRES_DB variable name of the alertdb service is not the default

  • Editing overrides file:

    Code Block
    alert: environment: - ALERT_DB_NAME=<DB_NAME>

  • Replace <DB_NAME> with the name of the database created in Postgres to store Alert data

  • <DB_NAME> Should match the value in the POSTGRES_DB variable of the alertdb service

Alert logging level variable

To change the logging level of Alert add the following environment variable to the deployment.

• Editing overrides file:

  Code Block
  alert: environment: - ALERT_LOGGING_LEVEL=DEBUG

• Set the value to one of the following:

  • DEBUG

  • ERROR

  • INFO

  • TRACE

  • WARN

Email channel environment variables

A majority of the Email Channel environment variables that can be set are related to JavaMail configuration properties. The JavaMail properties can be found here at JavaMail Properties

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• ALERT_CHANNEL_EMAIL_MAIL_SMTP_HOST maps to mail.smtp.host

• ALERT_CHANNEL_EMAIL_MAIL_SMTP_PORT maps to mail.smtp.port

Environment variable classifications

There are certain classifications with the environment variables expressed by a specific naming convention: ALERT_<CLASSIFICATION>_<ITEM_NAME>_<CONFIGURATION_PROPERTY>

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Global Distribution Channel Environment Variables

Email

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Environment Variable

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Description

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Environment Variable	Description	Required
ALERT_CHANNEL_EMAIL_MAIL_SMTP_HOST	The host name of the email server to be used for sending emails to recipients.	Yes
ALERT_CHANNEL_EMAIL_MAIL_SMTP_FROM	The email address of the sender that Alert will use for sending emails.	Yes
ALERT_CHANNEL_EMAIL_MAIL_SMTP_PORT	The port number of the SMTP server.	No
ALERT_CHANNEL_EMAIL_MAIL_SMTP_AUTH	Default: false Flag for Alert to use SMTP authentication when connecting to the SMTP server. Setting this true will make username and password required.	No
ALERT_CHANNEL_EMAIL_MAIL_SMTP_USERNAME	The username for authenticating with the SMTP server.	No
ALERT_CHANNEL_EMAIL_MAIL_SMTP_PASSWORD	The password for authenticating with the SMTP server.	No

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