Silencing reference

Sensu’s silencing capability allows you to suppress event handler execution on an ad hoc basis so you can plan maintenance and reduce alert fatigue. Silences are created on an ad hoc basis using sensuctl. Successfully created silencing entries are assigned a name in the format $SUBSCRIPTION:$CHECK, where $SUBSCRIPTION is the name of a Sensu entity subscription and $CHECK is the name of a Sensu check.

You can use silences to silence checks on specific entities by taking advantage of per-entity subscriptions (for example, entity:$ENTITY_NAME). When the check name or subscription described in a silencing entry matches an event and the handler uses the not_silenced built-in filter, the handler will not be executed.

These silences are persisted in the Sensu datastore. When the Sensu server processes subsequent check results, it retrieves matching silences from the store. If there are one or more matching entries, the event is updated with a list of silenced entry names. The presence of silences indicates that the event is silenced.

When creating a silencing entry, you can specify a combination of checks and subscriptions, but only one or the other is strictly required. For example, if you create a silencing entry specifying only a check, its name will contain an asterisk (or wildcard) in the $SUBSCRIPTION position. This indicates that any event with a matching check name will be marked as silenced, regardless of the originating entities’ subscriptions.

Conversely, a silencing entry that specifies only a subscription will have a name with an asterisk in the $CHECK position. This indicates that any event where the originating entities’ subscriptions match the subscription specified in the entry will be marked as silenced, regardless of the check name.

Silencing specification

Silenced entry names

Silences must contain either a subscription or check name and are identified by the combination of $SUBSCRIPTION:$CHECK. If a check or subscription is not provided, it will be substituted with a wildcard (asterisk): $SUBSCRIPTION:* or *:$CHECK.

Top-level attributes

type
description Top-level attribute that specifies the sensuctl create resource type. Silences should always be type Silenced.
required Required for silencing entry definitions in wrapped-json or yaml format for use with sensuctl create.
type String
example 
"type": "Silenced"
api_version
description Top-level attribute that specifies the Sensu API group and version. For silences in this version of Sensu, the api_version should always be core/v2.
required Required for silencing entry definitions in wrapped-json or yaml format for use with sensuctl create.
type String
example 
"api_version": "core/v2"
metadata
description Top-level collection of metadata about the silencing entry that includes name, namespace, and created_by as well as custom labels and annotations. The metadata map is always at the top level of the silencing entry definition. This means that in wrapped-json and yaml formats, the metadata scope occurs outside the spec scope. See metadata attributes for details.
required Required for silencing entry definitions in wrapped-json or yaml format for use with sensuctl create.
type Map of key-value pairs
example 
"metadata": {
  "name": "appserver:mysql_status",
  "namespace": "default",
  "created_by": "admin",
  "labels": {
    "region": "us-west-1"
  }
spec
description Top-level map that includes the silencing entry spec attributes.
required Required for silences in wrapped-json or yaml format for use with sensuctl create.
type Map of key-value pairs
example 
"spec": {
  "expire": -1,
  "expire_on_resolve": false,
  "creator": "admin",
  "reason": null,
  "check": null,
  "subscription": "entity:i-424242",
  "begin": 1542671205
}

Metadata attributes

name
description Silencing identifier generated from the combination of a subscription name and check name.
required false - This value cannot be modified.
type String
example 
"name": "appserver:mysql_status"
namespace
description Sensu RBAC namespace that the silencing entry belongs to.
required false
type String
default default
example 
"namespace": "production"
created_by
description Username of the Sensu user who created the silence or last updated the silence. Sensu automatically populates the created_by field when the silence is created or updated.
required false
type String
example 
"created_by": "admin"
labels
description Custom attributes to include with observation data in events that you can use for response and web UI view filtering.

If you include labels in your event data, you can filter API responses, sensuctl responses, and web UI views based on them. In other words, labels allow you to create meaningful groupings for your data.

Limit labels to metadata you need to use for response filtering. For complex, non-identifying metadata that you will not need to use in response filtering, use annotations rather than labels.
required false
type Map of key-value pairs. Keys can contain only letters, numbers, and underscores and must start with a letter. Values can be any valid UTF-8 string.
default null
example 
"labels": {
  "environment": "development",
  "region": "us-west-2"
}
annotations
description Non-identifying metadata to include with observation data in events that you can access with event filters. You can use annotations to add data that’s meaningful to people or external tools that interact with Sensu.

In contrast to labels, you cannot use annotations in API response filtering, sensuctl response filtering, or web UI views.
required false
type Map of key-value pairs. Keys and values can be any valid UTF-8 string.
default null
example 
 "annotations": {
  "managed-by": "ops",
  "playbook": "www.example.url"
}

Spec attributes

check
description Name of the check the entry should match.
required true, unless subscription is provided
type String
example 
"check": "haproxy_status"
subscription
description Name of the subscription the entry should match.
required true, unless check is provided
type String
example 
"subscription": "entity:i-424242"
begin
description Time at which silence entry goes into effect. In epoch.
required false
type Integer
example 
"begin": 1512512023
expire
description Number of seconds until the entry should be deleted.
required false
type Integer
default -1
example 
"expire": 3600
expire_on_resolve
description true if the entry should be deleted when a check begins to return OK status (resolves). Otherwise, false.
required false
type Boolean
default false
example 
"expire_on_resolve": true
creator
description Person, application, or entity responsible for creating the entry.
required false
type String
default null
example 
"creator": "Application Deploy Tool 5.0"
reason
description Explanation of the reason for creating the entry.
required false
type String
default null
example 
"reason": "rebooting the world"

Examples

Silence all checks on a specific entity

Suppose you want to silence any alerts on the Sensu entity i-424242. To do this, use per-entity subscriptions:

type: Silenced
api_version: core/v2
metadata:
  annotations: null
  labels: null
  name: entity:i-424242:*
  namespace: default
spec:
  begin: 1542671205
  check: null
  creator: admin
  expire: -1
  expire_on_resolve: false
  reason: null
  subscription: entity:i-424242
{
  "type": "Silenced",
  "api_version": "core/v2",
  "metadata": {
    "name": "entity:i-424242:*",
    "namespace": "default",
    "labels": null,
    "annotations": null
  },
  "spec": {
    "expire": -1,
    "expire_on_resolve": false,
    "creator": "admin",
    "reason": null,
    "check": null,
    "subscription": "entity:i-424242",
    "begin": 1542671205
  }
}

Silence a specific check on a specific entity

To continue the previous example, here’s how to silence a check named check_ntp on entity i-424242, ensuring the entry is deleted after the underlying issue is resolved:

type: Silenced
api_version: core/v2
metadata:
  name: entity:i-424242:check_ntp
  namespace: default
  labels: 
  annotations: 
spec:
  subscription: entity:i-424242
  check: check_ntp
  expire_on_resolve: true
{
  "type": "Silenced",
  "api_version": "core/v2",
  "metadata": {
    "name": "entity:i-424242:check_ntp",
    "namespace": "default",
    "labels": null,
    "annotations": null
  },
  "spec": {
    "subscription": "entity:i-424242",
    "check": "check_ntp",
    "expire_on_resolve": true
  }
}

The optional expire_on_resolve attribute used in this example indicates that when the server processes a matching check from the specified entity with status OK, the silencing entry will be removed automatically.

When used in combination with other attributes (like creator and reason), this gives Sensu operators a way to acknowledge that they received an alert, suppress additional notifications, and automatically clear the silencing entry when the check status returns to normal.

Silence all checks on entities with a specific subscription

In this example, you’ll completely silence any entities subscribed to appserver. Just as in the example of silencing all checks on a specific entity, you’ll create a silencing entry that specifies only the appserver subscription:

type: Silenced
api_version: core/v2
metadata:
  name: appserver
  namespace: default
  labels: 
  annotations: 
spec:
  subscription: appserver
{
  "type": "Silenced",
  "api_version": "core/v2",
  "metadata": {
    "name": "appserver",
    "namespace": "default",
    "labels": null,
    "annotations": null
  },
  "spec": {
    "subscription": "appserver"
  }
}

Silence a specific check on entities with a specific subscription

To silence a check mysql_status that is running on Sensu entities with the subscription appserver:

type: Silenced
api_version: core/v2
metadata:
  name: appserver:mysql_status
  namespace: default
  labels: 
  annotations: 
spec:
  subscription: appserver
  check: mysql_status
{
  "type": "Silenced",
  "api_version": "core/v2",
  "metadata": {
    "name": "appserver:mysql_status",
    "namespace": "default",
    "labels": null,
    "annotations": null
  },
  "spec": {
    "subscription": "appserver",
    "check": "mysql_status"
  }
}

Silence a specific check on every entity

To silence the check mysql_status on every entity in your infrastructure, regardless of subscriptions, you only need to provide the check name:

type: Silenced
api_version: core/v2
metadata:
  name: mysql_status
  namespace: default
  labels: 
  annotations: 
spec:
  check: mysql_status
{
  "type": "Silenced",
  "api_version": "core/v2",
  "metadata": {
    "name": "mysql_status",
    "namespace": "default",
    "labels": null,
    "annotations": null
  },
  "spec": {
    "check": "mysql_status"
  }
}

Delete a silence

To delete a silencing entry, you must provide its name.

Subscription-only silencing entry names will contain an asterisk (or wildcard) in the $SUBSCRIPTION position, similar to this example:

name: appserver:*
{
  "name": "appserver:*"
}

Check-only silencing entry names will contain an asterisk (or wildcard) in the $CHECK position, similar to this example:

name: '*:mysql_status'
{
  "name": "*:mysql_status"
}