Understanding and managing alerts
Applies To: Windows Home Server 2011
This topic discusses how to view and respond to all alerts in your home server network using the Dashboard.
The server monitors its own health status and the health of computers that are connected to it and generates an alert for issues related to computer backups, server storage, low disk space, files system, hard drives and more. These issues are displayed as alerts in the Alert Viewer which can be launched from either the server Dashboard. By default, the alerts in the Alert Viewer are refreshed every thirty minutes. You can evaluate your network for alerts at any time by clicking Refresh in the Alert Viewer.
Viewing alerts using the Alert Viewer
This section discusses how to open the Alert viewer using the Dashboard to view the health status of all the computers on the home server network.
To open the alert Viewer using the Dashboard
Open the Dashboard.
On the navigation pane, click the any of the displayed alerts icon (critical, warning, and informational). This launches the Alert Viewer
Managing alerts using the Alert Viewer
This section discusses organizing, resolving, ignoring, and deleting alerts in the Alert Viewer using the Dashboard.
Organizing alerts in the Alert Viewer
You can organize alerts in the Alert Viewer and have them displayed based on their severity- Critical, Warning, and Informational.
To organize alerts in the Alert Viewer
Open the Dashboard
On the navigation pane, click the any of the displayed alerts icon (critical, warning, and informational). This launches the Alert Viewer
Expand the Organize list drop-down, and do one of the following:
Select Filter by computer, and click the computer name that you would like to view the alerts for. This results in alerts being displayed only for the selected computer in the Alert Viewer.
Select Filter by alert type, and click the alert type (Warning, Critical, and Informational) that you would like to view the alerts for. This results in alerts being displayed only for the alert type in the Alert Viewer.
Deleting Alerts
You can use the Alert Viewer on the Dashboard to delete an alert.
The deleted alert is removed from the Alert Viewer at the next network health evaluation cycle. If you delete an alert and the server detects the problem again in health evaluation cycle, it generates a new alert. By default, the alerts in the Alert Viewer are refreshed every thirty minutes. You can instantly refresh the alerts list by clicking Refresh in the Alert Viewer.
To delete an alert
From the computer that is connected to the server, open the Launchpad.
On the Launchpad, click any of the displayed alert icons (critical, warning, and informational) to open the Alert Viewer.
In the Alert Viewer, right-click the alert that you want to delete, and then click Delete the alert.
Ignoring Alerts
You can choose to ignore an alert if you prefer to respond to it a later. When you ignore an alert, it is still listed in the Alert Viewer and is grayed out. However, an ignored alert is not included in the overall health assessment of the computers in the network. You can enable the alert again if you would like to include it in the next network health assessment cycle.
To ignore an alert using the Dashboard
From the server, open the Dashboard.
On the navigation pane, click the any of the displayed alerts icon (critical, warning, and informational). This launches the Alert Viewer
In the Alert Viewer, select and select the alert that you want to ignore, and then in the Tasks section click Ignore the alert.
Enabling Alerts
To respond to a disabled alert, you will need to first enable the alert. When you enable an alert, that you have disabled, it becomes active and it is again included in the overall health assessment of the computers in the network.
To enable an alert using the Dashboard
From the server, open the Dashboard.
On the navigation pane, click the any of the displayed alerts icon (critical, warning, and informational). This launches the Alert Viewer
In the Alert Viewer, select and select the alert that you want to ignore, and then in the Tasks section, click Enable the alert.
Sending alerts via emails
You can configure your server to notify you about the occurrence of alerts via email. The email notifications for these alerts contain information about the network issues, along with its resolution steps identical to the information that is displayed in the Alert Viewer. For more information, see Understanding email notifications for alerts