---
title: "NMS Policy Settings"
slug: "nms-policy-settings"
description: "Manage NMS Alert Policies in the Kentik portal with step-by-step guidance on settings, types, and notification channels for effective monitoring."
updated: 2025-10-16T05:02:08Z
published: 2025-10-16T05:02:08Z
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://kb.kentik.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# NMS Policy Settings

This article discusses the **Add/Edit NMS Alert Policy** settings pages in the Kentik portal. For background on Kentik’s Alerting system, first read these articles:

- For the step-by-step procedures for managing alert policies, see [**Manage Alert Policies**](/v1/docs/alert-policies#manage-alert-policies).
- For an NMS alert policies overview, see [**About NMS Policies**](/v1/docs/policy-alerts-overview#about-nms-policies).
- For other alerting articles, see [**Policy Alerts Overview**](/v1/docs/policy-alerts-overview), [**Alerting**](/v1/docs/alerting), [**Notification Channels**](/v1/docs/notifications), and [**Mitigations**](/v1/docs/mitigations).

> **Note**: Kentik has deprecated **Up/Down** policies in favor of the more powerful **NMS** policies described in this article. Existing **Up/Down** policies remain available in the portal and can be managed with the legacy policy settings page.

![Add an NMS alert policy with a NMS Policy Settings page.](https://cdn.us.document360.io/082e25b5-afce-42d4-8f47-70bd3f1d02b7/Images/Documentation/AP-NMS_Add_Policy_General.png)

## Add/Edit NMS Alert Policy Page

This section covers the UI elements of the Add/Edit NMS Alert Policy pages.

Access these settings pages as follows:

- **Add NMS Alert Policy Page**: Alerting » Alert Policies » **Add Alert Policy**. Select the NMS card.
- **Edit NMS Alert Policy Page**: Alerting » Alert Policies. Click **Edit Policy** from the policy’s action menu (vertical dots icon).

### Subnav

The subnav elements are as follows:

- **Cancel**: Click to exit without saving.
- **Create**(Add only): Click to create the new policy and return to the Policies page. Only active when all required settings are complete and error-free.
- **Save**(Edit only): Click to save changes and exit.
- **Remove**(Edit only): Click to remove the alert policy.

### General Tab

The **General Tab** settings:

- **Name**: The name of the policy. Maximum of 50 characters; must include at least one letter.
- **Description** (optional): A description of the policy; used to summarize what the policy looks at and indicate what it is used for.
- **Enable Policy**: Defaults to On. Click Off to disable the policy.

### Target & Filters Tab

The **Target & Filters Tab** settings:

- ![Interface for adding an NMS alert policy with target and filter options displayed.](https://cdn.us.document360.io/082e25b5-afce-42d4-8f47-70bd3f1d02b7/Images/Documentation/AP-add-policy-dialog-type.png)

*Select a policy type for a new NMS alert policy.*

**Policy Type**: Select a type for the new policy, one of Agent, BGP Neighbor, Component, Device, Event, Interface, or Custom (see [**NMS Policy Types**](/v1/docs/nms-policy-settings#nms-policy-types)).
- **Measurements:** Click the field to select metrics from the dropdown (filtered by Policy Type). Displays lozenges for selected metrics. Click the **X**to remove a lozenge.
- **Devices**: Select devices for this policy to monitor:
  - **Selected devices list**: Shows lozenges for selected devices. Click**X** to remove a lozenge.
  - **Edit Devices** (button): Opens the [**Data Sources**](/v1/docs/nms-policy-settings#data-sources-dialog)****dialog.
- **Dimension Filters**: Add filters to narrow the scope of dimension values this policy will monitor.
  - **Selected filters list**: Shows cards for dimension filters as they are added.
  - **Add Dimension Filters**(button): Click to open the Filters dialog (see [**Filters Settings**](/v1/docs/filtering-settings)). Available for Agent, BGP Neighbor, Component, Device, Interface policy types only.
  - **Edit Dimensions** (button): Click to open the [**Group By Dimensions**](/v1/docs/dimension-settings#choosing-query-dimensions) dialog. Available for Event policy type only.

### Activate & Clear Tab

The **Activate & Clear Tab** settings:

![Configuration settings for alert conditions with a major severity error highlighted.](https://cdn.us.document360.io/082e25b5-afce-42d4-8f47-70bd3f1d02b7/Images/Documentation/AP-add-policy-dialog-severity(1).png)

*Configuration settings for alert conditions with a major severity error highlighted.*

- **Severity**: Choose a severity level for alerts activated by this policy. Default is Major.
- **Alert Condition Groups**: Add groups of conditions to be met before the policy triggers alerts.
  - Any/All dropdown for top-level condition group
  - Cards for conditions in the groups
    - Any/All/None dropdown for conditions
    - **Add Condition**: Opens the
      - Measurement/Metric dropdowns (filtered by Policy Type)
      - Comparison dropdown: Equals, etc.
      - Value: Enter value in the format indicated in red (e.g., float, percent as float)
      - Delete condition (X)
    - **Add Nested Condition Group**: Add up to 3 levels of nested condition groups within each top-level group.
    - **Remove Group**: Removes a nested condition group.
  - **Add Condition Group**: Add a new top-level condition group.
- **Acknowledgment Required**: Enable the switch to require a user to acknowledge this policy’s alerts (see [**Alerts List**](/v1/docs/alerting#alerts-list)**)**.
- **Manual Clear Required**: Enable the switch to require manual clearing of alerts that are no longer in an alarm state (see [**Alerts List**](/v1/docs/alerting#alerts-list)**)**.
- **Notification Channels**: View and assign notification channels to this policy (see [**About Notification Channels**](/v1/docs/notifications#about-notification-channels)):
  - **Assign a Channel**: Click to drop down a filterable channel list and select a channel. Repeat as needed.
  - Assigned channels show as lozenges in the field.
  - Click the **X** in a lozenge to remove the channel.
- **Add New Channel**: A button that opens the Add Notification Channel dialog (see [**Notification Dialogs UI**](/v1/docs/notifications#notification-dialogs-ui)) where you can create a new channel and add it to the policy automatically.
- **Test Notification Channels**: Click to send test notifications to all assigned channels. Active only when notification channels are selected.
- **Activation Delay**: Enter the number of minutes to wait before starting the alert. If the alert would have cleared within this period, the alert won’t start at all.
- **Clearance Delay**: Enter the number of minutes to wait before clearing the alert. If the alert would have restarted within this period, the alert will not be cleared.

#### Data Sources Dialog

The Data Sources dialog allows you to add devices to the alert policy, including:

- **Search**: Enter terms to filter the Device Selector list.
- **Cancel**: Click the**X** at the upper right, or **Cancel** at the lower right, to exit the dialog without saving.
- **Device Selector:**Left pane listing methods of selecting devices:
  - **All Devices** (default): Include all devices.
  - **Labels**: Add devices by selecting one or more labels (see [**Labels**](/v1/docs/labels)).
  - **Sites**: Add devices by selecting one or more sites (see [**Sites**](/v1/docs/sites)).
- **View Selections**: Right pane summarizing device selections:
  - Lozenges for each selected label/site
  - Click **X**to remove the selection
  - Click**>** on a site lozenge to show assigned devices
- **Save**: Click **Save** to confirm the device selections and exit.

## NMS Policy Types

The following table describes the policy types for NMS alert policies, listing the related metrics for each:

| Policy Type | Description | Metrics |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Agent | Metrics reported by Kentik agents | - /kentik/agent/cpu - Times - Utilization - /kentik/agent/disk - Free - Utilization - /kentik/agent/memory - Buffers - Cached - Free - SReclaimable - Total - Utilization - /kentik/agent/status - Agent Operational status - Is Agent Running - /kentik/agent/status/alert - Should trigger alert |
| BGP Neighbor | Protocol metrics for BGP | - /protocols/bgp/neighbors - Messages In Total - Messages In Updates - Messages Out Total - Messages Out Updates - Session State - State transitions - Time Established - /protocols/bgp/neighbors/prefixes - advertised - advertised-prefixes - Installed - Max Prefix - Max Prefix Clear Threshold - Max Prefix Percent - Max Prefix Threshold - Received - Received Pre-Policy - Rejected - Sent - Suppressed - Withdrawn |
| Component | Hardware component metrics | - /components - Entity Admin Status - Entity Operational Status - Fantray Operational Status - Field Replaceable Unit - Module Operational Status - Operational Status - Uptime - /components/cpu/utilization - CPU Utilization - /components/fan - Alarm severity - Alarm status - Operational status - Speed - /components/memory - available - Free - Physical - Used - Utilization - utilized - /components/power-supply - Current - Operational status - Power - Voltage - /components/temperature - Temperature |
| Device | System metrics | - /system - Availability Status - Average RTT (µs) - Boot Time - online - Status - Uptime (Seconds) - /system/cpus/summary - CPU Utilization |
| Event | Metrics for Syslog and SNMP Trap | Syslog (default): - Timestamp - Severity - Message - Device Name SNMP Trap (default): - Timestamp - Trap Type - Device Name > [!NOTE] > **Note**: Click **Edit Dimension** to add****dimensions other than the defaults. |
| Interface | Interface counters | /interfaces/counters |
| Custom | Select any available measurement | All |