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Create NRQL alert conditions

You can use NRQL queries to create alert conditions. Once you've defined your signal, you can further define your warning and critical threshold levels. This determines when an alerts incident is created. For more information on key concepts relating to NRQL alert conditions and streaming alerts, see Streaming alerts: key terms and concepts.

Create a NRQL alert condition from a policy

Go to one.newrelic.com > All capabilities > Alerts & AI > Alert Conditions & Policies to create a NRQL alert condition from a policy. Then, click + New alert condition.

Go to one.newrelic.com > All capabilities > Alerts & AI > Alert Conditions & Policies > + New alert condition.

Follow these steps.

Create a condition from a chart

Most of our charts, with the exception of a few older ones, allow you to create a condition from them.

To create a NRQL alert condition from a chart:

  1. Go to one.newrelic.com > All capabilities > APM & Services and select an app.

  2. In the left pane, select Metrics explorer and add your configuration.

  3. In the chart's right corner, click the icon and select Create alert condition.

  4. Follow the steps explained in the Create a NRQL alert condition from a policy but be aware that step 1 is a bit different because, now, the query is built with the data you've previously configured.

NRQL alert syntax

Here's the basic syntax for creating all NRQL alert conditions.

SELECT function(attribute)
FROM Event
WHERE attribute [comparison] [AND|OR ...]

Clause

Notes

SELECT function(attribute)

Required

Supported functions that return numbers include:

  • apdex

  • average

  • count

  • latest

  • max

  • min

  • percentage

  • percentile

  • sum

  • uniqueCount

    Tip

    If you use the percentile aggregator in a faceted alert condition with many facets, this may cause this error:

    An error occurred while fetching chart data.

    If you see this error, use average instead.

FROM data type

Required

Multiple data types can be targeted.

Supported data types:

  • Events
  • Metric (RAW data points will be returned)

WHERE attribute [comparison] [AND|OR ...]

Use the WHERE clause to specify a series of one or more conditions. All the operators are supported. It's used for filtering down the data returned in the query.

FACET attribute

Include an optional FACET clause in your NRQL syntax depending on the threshold type (static or anomaly).

Use the FACET clause to separate your results by attribute and alert on each attribute independently. No LIMIT clause is allowed, but all queries will receive the maximum number of facets possible.

Faceted queries can return a maximum of 5000 values for static and anomaly conditions.

Important

If the query returns more than the maximum number of values, the alert condition can't be created. If you create the condition and the query returns more than this number later, the alert will fail. Modify your query so that it returns a fewer number of values.

Reformatting incompatible NRQL

Some elements of NRQL used in charts don't make sense in the context of streaming alerts. Here's a list of the most common incompatible elements and suggestions for reformatting a NRQL alert query to achieve the same effect.

Element

Notes

SINCE and UNTIL

Example:

SELECT percentile(largestContentfulPaint, 75) FROM PageViewTiming WHERE (appId = 837807) SINCE yesterday

NRQL conditions produce a never-ending stream of windowed query results, so the SINCE and UNTIL keywords to scope the query to a point in time are not compatible. As a convenience, we automatically strip SINCE and UNTIL from a query when creating a condition from the context of a chart.

TIMESERIES

In NRQL queries, the TIMESERIES clause is used to return data as a time series broken out by a specified period of time.

For NRQL conditions and if not using sliding window aggregation, the equivalent property to TIMESERIES is the data aggregation window duration. If you are using sliding window aggregation, the equivalent property is the value of the sliding window aggregation.

histogram()

The histogram() aggregation function is used to generate histograms.

histogram() is not compatible with NRQL alerting: histogram aggregations can not be formatted as a time series. To create an alert from a portion of a histogram (for example, 95th percentile), use the percentile() aggregation function.

bytecountestimate(), cardinality()

These functions are not yet supported for NRQL alerting.

Multiple aggregation functions

Each condition can only target a single aggregated value. To alert on multiple values simultaneously, you'll need to decompose them into individual conditions within the same policy.

Original query:

SELECT count(foo), average(bar), max(baz) from Transaction

Decomposed:

SELECT count(foo) from Transaction
SELECT average(bar) from Transaction
SELECT max(baz) from Transaction

COMPARE WITH

The COMPARE WITH clause is used to compare the values for two different time ranges. This type of query is incompatible with NRQL alerting. We recommend using an anomaly alert condition to dynamically detect deviations for a particular signal.

SLIDE BY

The SLIDE BY clause supports a feature known as sliding windows. With sliding windows, SLIDE BY data is gathered into "windows" of time that overlap with each other. These windows can help to smooth out line graphs with a lot of variation in cases where the rolling aggregate (such as a rolling mean) is more important than aggregates from narrow windows of time.

You can enable sliding windows in the UI. When creating or editing a condition, go to Adjust to signal behavior > Data aggregation settings > Use sliding window aggregation.

For example to create an alert condition equivalent to

SELECT count(*) from Transaction TIMESERIES 1 minute SLIDE BY 5 minutes

You would use a data aggregation window duration of 5 minutes, with a sliding window aggregation of 1 minute.

LIMIT

In NRQL queries, the LIMIT clause is used to control the amount of data a query returns, either the maximum number of facet values returned by FACET queries or the maximum number of items returned by SELECT \* queries.

LIMIT is not compatible with NRQL alerting: evaluation is always performed on the full result set.

Subqueries

Subqueries are not compatible with streaming because subquery execution requires multiple passes through data.

Subquery JOINs

Subquery JOINS are not compatible with streaming alerts because subquery execution requires multiple passes through data.

NRQL alert threshold examples

Here are some common use cases for NRQL conditions. These queries will work for static and anomaly condition types.

NRQL conditions and query order of operations

By default, the aggregation window duration is 1 minute, but you can change the window to suit your needs. Whatever the aggregation window, New Relic will collect data for that window using the function in the NRQL condition's query. The query is parsed and executed by our systems in the following order:

  1. FROM clause. Which event type needs to be grabbed?
  2. WHERE clause. What can be filtered out?
  3. SELECT clause. What information needs to be returned from the now-filtered data set?

Example: null value returned

Let's say this is your alert condition query:

SELECT count(*) FROM SyntheticCheck WHERE monitorName = 'My Cool Monitor' AND result = 'FAILED'

If there are no failures for the aggregation window:

  1. The system will execute the FROM clause by grabbing all SyntheticCheck events on your account.
  2. Then it will execute the WHERE clause to filter through those events by looking only for the ones that match the monitor name and result specified.
  3. If there are still events left to scan through after completing the FROM and WHERE operations, the SELECT clause will be executed. If there are no remaining events, the SELECT clause will not be executed.

This means that aggregators like count() and uniqueCount() will never return a zero value. When there is a count of 0, the SELECT clause is ignored and no data is returned, resulting in a value of NULL.

Example: zero value returned

If you have a data source delivering legitimate numeric zeroes, the query will return zero values and not null values.

Let's say this is your alert condition query, and that MyCoolEvent is an attribute that can sometimes return a zero value.

SELECT average(MyCoolAttribute) FROM MyCoolEvent

If, in the aggregation window being evaluated, there's at least one instance of MyCoolEvent and if the average value of all MyCoolAttribute attributes from that window is equal to zero, then a 0 value will be returned. If there are no MyCoolEvent events during that minute, then a NULL will be returned due to the order of operations.

Example: null vs. zero value returned

To determine how null values will be handled, adjust the loss of signal and gap filling settings in the Alert conditions UI.

You can avoid NULL values entirely with a query order of operations shortcut. To do this, use a filter sub-clause, then include all filter elements within that sub-clause. The main body of the query should include a WHERE clause that defines at least one entity so, for any aggregation window where the monitor performs a check, the signal will be tied to that entity. The SELECT clause will then run and apply the filter elements to the data returned by the main body of the query, which will return a value of 0 if the filter elements result in no matching data.

Here's an example to alert on FAILED results:

SELECT filter(count(*), WHERE result = 'FAILED') FROM SyntheticCheck WHERE monitorName = 'My Favorite Monitor'

In this example, a window with a successful result would return a 0, allowing the condition's threshold to resolve on its own.

For more information, check out our blog post on troubleshooting for zero versus null values.

Nested aggregation NRQL alerts

Nested aggregation queries are a powerful way to query your data. However, they have a few restrictions that are important to note.

NRQL condition creation tips

Here are some tips for creating and using a NRQL condition:

Topic

Tips

Condition types

NRQL condition types include static and anomaly.

Create a description

For NRQL conditions, you can create a custom description to add to each incident. Descriptions can be enhanced with variable substitution based on metadata in the specific incident.

Query results

Queries must return a number. The condition evaluates the returned number against the thresholds you've set.

Time period

NRQL conditions evaluate data based on how it's aggregated, using aggregation windows from 30 seconds to 120 minutes, in increments of 15 seconds. For best results, we recommend using the event flow or event timer aggregation methods.

For the cadence aggregation method, the implicit SINCE ... UNTIL clause specifying which minute to evaluate is controlled by your delay/timer setting. Since very recent data may be incomplete, you may want to query data from 3 minutes ago or longer, especially for:

  • Applications that run on multiple hosts.
  • SyntheticCheck data: Timeouts can take 3 minutes, so 5 minutes or more is recommended.

Also, if a query will generate intermittent data, consider using the advanced signal slide by option.

Lost signal threshold (loss of signal detection)

You can use loss of signal detection to alert on when your data (a telemetry signal) should be considered lost. A signal loss can indicate that a service or entity is no longer online or that a periodic job failed to run. You can also use this to make sure that incidents for sporadic data, such as error counts, are closed when no signal is coming in.

Advanced signal settings

These settings give you options for better handling continuous, streaming data signals that may sometimes be missing. These settings include the aggregation window duration, the delay/timer, and an option for filling data gaps. For more on using these, see Advanced signal settings.

Condition settings

Use the Condition settings to:

  • Create a concise, descriptive condition name.
  • Provide a custom incident description for the condition on the Add details page that will be included in incidents and notifications.
  • Add the runbook URL to include your organization's procedures for handling incidents. You may also add this information to the custom incident description.

Limits on conditions

See the maximum values.

Health status

In order for a NRQL alert condition health status display to function properly, the query must be scoped to a single entity. To do this, either use a WHERE clause (for example, WHERE appName = 'MyFavoriteApp') or use a FACET clause to scope each signal to a single entity (for example, FACET hostname or FACET appName).

Examples

For more information, see:

Managing tags on conditions

When you edit an existing NRQL condition, you have the option to add or remove tags associated with the condition entity. To do this, click the Manage tags button below the condition name. In the menu that pops up, add or delete a tag.

Condition edits can reset condition evaluation

When you edit NRQL alert conditions in some specific ways (detailed below), their evaluations are reset, meaning that any evaluation up until that point is lost, and the evaluation starts over from that point. The two ways this will affect you are:

  • For "for at least x minutes" thresholds: because the evaluation window has been reset, there will be a delay of at least x minutes before any incidents can be reported.
  • For anomaly conditions: the condition starts over again and all anomaly learning is lost.

The following actions cause an evaluation reset for NRQL conditions:

  • Changing the query
  • Changing the aggregation window, aggregation method, or aggregation delay/timer setting
  • Changing the "close incidents on signal loss" setting
  • Changing any gap fill settings
  • Changing the anomaly direction (if applicable)- higher, lower, or higher/lower
  • Change the threshold value, threshold window, or threshold operator
  • Change the slide-by interval (on sliding windows aggregation conditions only)

The following actions (along with any other actions not covered in the above list) will not reset the evaluation:

  • Changing the loss of signal time window (expiration duration)
  • Changing the time function (switching "for at least" to "at least once in," or vice-versa)
  • Toggling the "open incident on signal loss" setting

Alert condition types

When you create a NRQL alert, you can choose from different types of conditions:

NRQL alert condition types

Description

Static

This is the simplest type of NRQL condition. It allows you to create a condition based on a NRQL query that returns a numeric value.

Optional: Include a FACET clause.

Anomaly (Dynamic anomaly)

Uses a self-adjusting condition based on the past behavior of the monitored values. Uses the same NRQL query form as the static type, including the optional FACET clause.

Set the loss of signal threshold

Important

The loss of signal feature requires a signal to be present before it can detect that the signal is lost. If you enable a condition while a signal is not present, no loss of signal will be detected and the loss of signal feature will not activate.

Loss of signal occurs when no data matches the NRQL condition over a specific period of time. You can set your loss of signal threshold duration and also what happens when the threshold is crossed.

Go to one.newrelic.com > All capabilities > Alerts & AI > Alert conditions (Policies), then + New alert condition. Loss of signal is only available for NRQL conditions.

You may also manage these settings using the GraphQL API (recommended), or the REST API. Go here for specific GraphQL API examples.

Loss of signal settings:

Loss of signal settings include a time duration and two possible actions.

  • Signal loss expiration time

    • UI label: Signal is lost after:
    • GraphQL Node: expiration.expirationDuration
    • Expiration duration is a timer that starts and resets when we receive a data point in the streaming alerts pipeline. If we don't receive another data point before your 'expiration time' expires, we consider that signal to be lost. This can be because no data is being sent to New Relic or the WHERE clause of your NRQL query is filtering that data out before it is streamed to the alerts pipeline. Note that when you have a faceted query, each facet is a signal. So if any one of those signals ends during the duration specified, that will be considered a loss of signal.
    • The loss of signal expiration time is independent of the threshold duration and triggers as soon as the timer expires.
    • The maximum expiration duration is 48 hours. This is helpful when monitoring for the execution of infrequent jobs. The minimum is 30 seconds, but we recommend using at least 3-5 minutes.
  • Loss of signal actions

    Once a signal is considered lost, you can close open incidents, open new incidents, or both.
    • Close all current open incidents: This closes all open incidents that are related to a specific signal. It won't necessarily close all incidents for a condition. If you're alerting on an ephemeral service, or on a sporadic signal, you'll want to choose this action to ensure that incidents are closed properly. The GraphQL node name for this is "closeViolationsOnExpiration"
    • Open new incidents: This will open a new incident when the signal is considered lost. These incidents will indicate that they are due to a loss of signal. Based on your incident preferences, this should trigger a notification. The graphQL node name for this is "openViolationOnExpiration"
    • When you enable both actions, we'll close all open incidents first, and then open a new incident for loss of signal.

To create a NRQL alert configured with loss of signal detection in the UI:

  1. For a policy, when you create a condition, under Select a product, click NRQL, then click Next, define thresholds.
  2. Write a NRQL query that returns the values you want to alert on.
  3. For Threshold type, select Static or Anomaly.
  4. Click + Add lost signal threshold, then set the signal expiration duration time in minutes or seconds in the Consider the signal lost after field.
  5. Choose what you want to happen when the signal is lost. You can check one or both of Close all current open incidents and Open new "lost signal" incident. These control how loss of signal incidents will be handled for the condition.
  6. Make sure you name your condition before you save it.

Incidents open due to loss of signal close when:

  • the signal comes back. Newly opened lost signal incidents will close immediately when new data is evaluated.
  • the condition they belong to expires. By default, conditions expire after 3 days.
  • you manually close the incident with the Close all current open incidents option.

Tip

Loss of signal detection doesn't work on NRQL queries that use nested aggregation or sub-queries.

Advanced signal settings

When creating a NRQL alert condition, use the advanced signal settings to control streaming alert data and avoid false alarms.

When creating a NRQL condition, there are several advanced signal settings:

  • Aggregation window duration
  • Sliding window aggregation
  • Streaming method
  • Delay/timer
  • Fill data gaps
  • Evaluation delay

To read an explanation of what these settings are and how they relate to each other, see Streaming alerts concepts. Below are instructions and tips on how to configure them.

Aggregation window duration

You can set the aggregation window duration to choose how long data is accumulated in a streaming time window before it's aggregated. You can set it to anything between 30 seconds and 120 minutes. The default is one minute.

Sliding window aggregation

You can use sliding windows to create smoother charts. This is done by creating overlapping windows of data.

Learn how to set sliding windows in this short video (2:30 minutes):

Once enabled, set the "slide by interval" to control how much overlap time your aggregated windows have. The interval must be shorter than the aggregation window while also dividing evenly into it.

Important

Immediately after you create a new sliding windows alert condition or perform any action that can cause an evaluation reset, your condition will need time build up an "aggregated buffer" for the duration of the first aggregation window. During that time, no incidents will trigger. Once that single aggregation window has passed, a complete "buffer" will have been built and the condition will function normally.

Streaming method

Choose between three streaming aggregation methods to get the best evaluation results for your conditions.

Delay/timer

You can adjust the delay/timer to coordinate our streaming alerting algorithm with your data's behavior. If your data is sparse or inconsistent, you may want to use the event timer aggregation method.

For the cadence method, the total supported latency is the sum of the aggregation window duration and the delay.

If the data type comes from an APM language agent and is aggregated from many app instances (for example, Transactions, TransactionErrors, etc.), we recommend using the event flow method with the default settings.

Important

When creating NRQL conditions for data collected from Infrastructure Cloud Integrations such as AWS CloudWatch or Azure, we recommend that you use the event timer method.

Fill data gaps

Gap filling lets you customize the values to use when your signals don't have any data. You can fill gaps in your data streams with one of these settings:

  • None: (Default) Choose this if you don't want to take any action on empty aggregation windows. On evaluation, an empty aggregation window will reset the threshold duration timer. For example, if a condition says that all aggregation windows must have data points above the threshold for 5 minutes, and 1 of the 5 aggregation windows is empty, then the condition won't be an incident.
  • Custom static value: Choose this if you'd like to insert a custom static value into the empty aggregation windows before they're evaluated. This option has an additional, required parameter of fillValue (as named in the API) that specifies what static value should be used. This defaults to 0.
  • Last known value: This option inserts the last seen value before evaluation occurs. We maintain the state of the last seen value for a minimum of 2 hours. If the configured threshold duration is longer than 2 hours, this value is kept for that duration instead.

Tip

The alerts system fills gaps in actively reported signals. This signal history is dropped after a period of inactivity and, for gap filling, data points received after this period of inactivity are treated as new signals. The inactivity length is either 2 hours or the configured threshold duration, whichever is longer.

To learn more about signal loss, gap filling, and how to request access to these features, see this Support Forum post.

Options for editing data gap settings:

  • In the NRQL conditions UI, go to Condition settings > Advanced signal settings > fill data gaps with and choose an option.
  • If using our Nerdgraph API (preferred), this node is located at: actor : account : alerts : nrqlCondition : signal : fillOption | fillValue
  • NerdGraph is our recommended API for this but if you're using our REST API, you can find this setting in the REST API explorer under the "signal" section of the Alert NRQL conditions API.

Evaluation delay

You can enable the Use evaluation delay flag and set up to 120 minutes to delay the evalution of incoming signals.

When new entities are first deployed, resource utilization on the entity is often unusually high. In autoscale environments this can easily create a lot of false alerts. By delaying the start of alert detection on signals emitted from new entities you can significantly reduce the number of false alarms associated with deployments in orchestrated or autoscale environments.

Options to enable evaluation delay:

  • In the NRQL conditions UI, go to Adjust to signal behavior > Use evaluation delay.
  • If using our Nerdgraph API, this node is located at: actor : account : alerts : nrqlCondition : signal : evaluationDelay
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