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Escalation Teams

An escalation team defines who gets notified when an alert fires and how notifications escalate if the alert isn't resolved. Each team has one or more steps, each with its own delay and notification channels.


How Escalation Works

  1. An alert configuration fires and creates an alert
  2. The escalation engine picks up the alert and starts at Step 1
  3. If the alert is still active after the delay defined on the next step, notifications advance to Step 2
  4. This continues through all defined steps
  5. If repeat is enabled, the cycle starts over from Step 1

The escalation engine runs on a 10-second cycle, checking for alerts that need escalation.


Creating an Escalation Team

Navigate to Alerting → Escalation Teams and click Add Team.

Team Fields

FieldRequiredDescription
NameYesDisplay name for the team (e.g., "Network Operations", "After-Hours On-Call")
DescriptionNoNotes about the team's purpose
EnabledYesWhether the team is active (default: yes)
Schedule TypeYesWhen the team is active — see Schedules
Repeat EnabledNoWhether to loop back to Step 1 after all steps complete
Repeat IntervalNoMinutes between repeat cycles (if repeat is enabled)
Max RepeatsNoMaximum number of repeat cycles (0 = unlimited)

Escalation Steps

Each team has one or more steps, executed in order. Every step has:

FieldDescription
Step OrderExecution order (1, 2, 3, ...)
DelayMinutes to wait before this step fires (0 for the first step — immediate)
ChannelsOne or more notification channels to use at this step

Example Setup

StepDelayChannelTarget
1ImmediateEmailon-call engineer
215 minutesSlack + Emailteam lead
330 minutesTeams + Emailoperations manager

If the alert is acknowledged or resolved before a step's delay elapses, that step is skipped.


Notification Channels

Each step can use one or more notification channels.

ChannelConfigurationStatus
EmailOne or more email addressesAvailable
Slack WebhookIncoming webhook URL, optional channel and username overrideAvailable
Microsoft Teams WebhookIncoming webhook URLAvailable
Generic WebhookURL and optional custom headersAvailable
SMSPhone numbersPlanned
Voice CallPhone numbersPlanned

Email

Specify one or more email addresses per step. Emails include the alert severity, node name and IP, metric value, threshold, and triggered time.

Slack

Provide a Slack incoming webhook URL. Notifications are sent as formatted Slack Block Kit messages with alert details.

Microsoft Teams

Provide a Teams incoming webhook URL. Notifications are sent as Adaptive Cards that include:

  • Alert severity and type
  • Node name and IP address
  • Current metric value and threshold
  • Triggered timestamp
  • An Acknowledge action button linking directly to the alert in Stratora

Generic Webhook

Send a JSON payload via HTTP POST to any URL. You can add custom headers for authentication or routing.

Testing Channels

Before saving, use the Test button to send a test notification through any channel. This verifies that webhooks, email addresses, and integrations are configured correctly.


Schedules

The schedule type controls when the escalation team is active — i.e., when it will process alerts and send notifications.

Always

Active 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Use this for teams that should always respond.

Time-Based

Active only during specific hours on specific days. Configure:

FieldDescription
Active Hours StartStart time (e.g., 09:00)
Active Hours EndEnd time (e.g., 17:00)
Overnight ShiftEnable if the end time is on the following day (e.g., 22:00–06:00)
Active DaysWhich days of the week the schedule applies (Sunday–Saturday)

Alerts that fire outside the active window are held until the team becomes active.

Rotation

Assigns a rotating on-call person from a roster. Configure:

FieldDescription
Rotation PeriodDays per person on-call (e.g., 7 for weekly rotation)
Start DateWhen the rotation schedule begins
Handoff TimeTime of day when on-call responsibility transfers (e.g., 08:00)
RosterOrdered list of rotation members

The system automatically calculates who is currently on-call based on the rotation period and roster position.


On-Call Rotation

Rotation members define the on-call roster. Each member has:

FieldDescription
PositionOrder in the rotation (1, 2, 3, ...)
NameDisplay name
EmailEmail address for notifications
PhonePhone number (for future SMS/voice)
ContactOptional link to a contact record

On-Call Targeting

Escalation step channels can target rotation members dynamically:

TargetWho Gets Notified
Current On-CallThe person currently on-call
Next On-CallThe person who will be on-call next
Previous On-CallThe person who was most recently on-call
All On-CallEveryone in the rotation roster
StaticFixed recipients (not rotation-aware)

This lets you build steps like: "Notify the current on-call engineer immediately, then notify the next on-call after 15 minutes if unresolved."


Repeat Behavior

When repeat is enabled and all steps have been exhausted without the alert being resolved:

  1. The escalation resets to Step 1
  2. The cycle repeats after the configured repeat interval
  3. Repeats continue up to max repeats (or indefinitely if set to 0)

This ensures critical alerts don't go unnoticed if the initial notifications are missed.


Resolution Notifications

When an alert resolves, the escalation engine automatically sends resolution notifications to all channels that were previously notified during the alert's lifetime. This ensures everyone who was alerted knows the issue has been cleared.

Resolution notifications are sent only once per channel, even if the channel was notified across multiple escalation steps.


Linking to Alert Configurations

Escalation teams are assigned to alert configurations. When an alert fires from a configuration that has an escalation team assigned, the team's escalation process begins automatically.

One escalation team can be shared across multiple alert configurations.