docs/sources/alerting/set-up/configure-alertmanager/_index.md
{{< admonition type="caution" >}} Pre-provisioned Loki and Prometheus data source-managed alerts have been deprecated in Grafana Cloud and can not be created in new stacks. New Grafana Cloud stacks will use Grafana-managed alerting (GMA) by default. Datasource-managed alerting (DMA) is not provisioned in new stacks. Existing stacks are not affected.
This applies to the default Loki and Prometheus Grafana Cloud data sources managed by Grafana Labs and Cloud Alertmanager, which will not be available nor will Grafana provision the data source for it. If you add your own Mimir, Loki, or Alertmanager data sources, you can continue to use data source-managed alerts.
Cloud users can import DMA rules into GMA rules with the import tool. See the import data source-managed alerts to Grafana-managed alerts documentation for information on how to do this. {{< /admonition >}}
Grafana Alerting is based on the architecture of the Prometheus alerting system. Grafana sends firing and resolved alerts to an Alertmanager, which is responsible for handling notifications. This architecture decouples alert rule evaluation from notification handling, improving scalability.
{{< figure src="/media/docs/alerting/alerting-alertmanager-architecture.png" max-width="750px" alt="A diagram with the alert generator and alert manager architecture" >}}
Grafana includes a built-in Grafana Alertmanager to handle notifications. This guide shows you how to:
It’s important to note that each Alertmanager manages its own independent alerting resources, such as:
Use the Choose Alertmanager dropdown on these pages to switch between Alertmanagers and view or manage their resources.
{{< figure src="/media/docs/alerting/alerting-choose-alertmanager.png" max-width="750px" alt="A screenshot choosing an Alertmanager in the notification policies UI" >}}
Grafana can be configured to handle alert notifications using various Alertmanagers.
Grafana Alertmanager: Grafana includes a built-in Alertmanager that extends the Prometheus Alertmanager. This is the default Alertmanager and is referred to as "Grafana" in the user interface. It can only handle Grafana-managed alerts.
Other Alertmanagers: Grafana Alerting also supports sending alerts to other Alertmanagers, such as the Prometheus Alertmanager.
Grafana Alerting supports using a combination of Alertmanagers and can enable other Alertmanagers to receive Grafana-managed alerts. The decision often depends on your alerting setup and where your alerts are generated.
For example, if you already have an Alertmanager running in your on-premises or cloud infrastructure to handle Prometheus alerts, you can forward Grafana-managed alerts to the same Alertmanager for unified notification handling.
Alertmanagers should be configured as data sources using Grafana Configuration from the main Grafana navigation menu. To add an Alertmanager, complete the following steps.
{{< docs/shared lookup="alerts/add-alertmanager-ds.md" source="grafana" version="<GRAFANA_VERSION>" >}}
For provisioning instructions, refer to the Alertmanager data source documentation.
After adding an Alertmanager, you can use the Grafana Alerting UI to manage notification policies, contact points, silences, and other alerting resources from within Grafana.
{{< admonition type="note" >}} When using Prometheus, you can manage silences in the Grafana Alerting UI. However, other Alertmanager resources such as contact points, notification policies, and templates are read-only because the Prometheus Alertmanager HTTP API does not support updates for these resources. {{< /admonition >}}
When using multiple Alertmanagers, use the Choose Alertmanager dropdown to switch between Alertmanagers.
After enabling Receive Grafana Alerts in the Data Source Settings, you must also configure the Alertmanager in the Alerting Settings page. Grafana supports enabling one or multiple Alertmanagers to receive all generated Grafana-managed alerts.
Receiving Grafana-managed alerts.{{< figure src="/media/docs/alerting/grafana-alerting-settings.png" max-width="750px" alt="Grafana Alerting Settings page" >}}
All Grafana-managed alerts are forwarded to Alertmanagers marked as Receiving Grafana-managed alerts.
{{< admonition type="note" >}} Grafana Alerting does not support forwarding Grafana-managed alerts to the AlertManager in Amazon Managed Service for Prometheus. For more details, refer to this GitHub issue. {{< /admonition >}}
The previous instructions enable sending all Grafana-managed alerts to an Alertmanager.
To send specific alerts to an Alertmanager, configure the Alertmanager as a contact point. You can then assign this contact point to notification policies or individual alert rules.
For detailed instructions, refer to:
On the Settings page, you can also manage your Alertmanager configurations.