Reducing Duplicate Collector Disconnected Alerts in Multi-Site Deployments

Overview

In environments where a single Auvik collector is shared across multiple sites, each site independently monitors the collector’s connectivity. When that shared collector becomes unreachable, every associated site may trigger its own “Collector Disconnected” alert.

This behavior can result in multiple duplicate alerts and redundant notifications (such as repeated tickets or emails), increasing noise and operational overhead.

This article outlines strategies to reduce or eliminate duplicate alerts in such configurations.

Cause

Auvik treats each site as an independent monitoring boundary. When a collector is associated with multiple sites:

• Each site evaluates collector health separately
• A single collector outage is interpreted as multiple independent failures
• Alerts are generated per site, not per collector instance

Resolution Options

1. Centralize Collector Monitoring

Assign responsibility for monitoring the shared collector to a single “primary” site.

Steps:

• Identify the site that will act as the primary monitoring location
• In all other sites:
  • Disable the Collector Disconnected alert

Result:
Only one site generates alerts for collector outages.

2. Scope Alerts Using Alerts v2

Leverage Alerts v2 to precisely control where alerts are generated.

Approach:

• Create alert rules scoped to:
  • Specific sites, or
  • Tags associated with the collector or site
• Ensure only one rule evaluates the collector’s connectivity

Result:
Alert generation is limited to a defined scope, preventing duplication.

3. De-duplicate Notifications

If alerts must remain enabled across multiple sites, limit where notifications are sent.

Approach:

• Configure notification channels (e.g., email, PSA integrations) in only one site
• Disable or remove notification actions in other sites

Examples:

• Only one site creates PSA tickets
• Only one site sends email alerts

Result:
Multiple alerts may still exist, but only one generates external notifications.

4. Deploy Site-Specific Collectors

For larger or more segmented environments, consider deploying dedicated collectors per site.

Benefits:

• Eliminates cross-site dependencies
• Improves fault isolation
• Prevents shared collector alert duplication entirely

Verification

After applying one or more of the above strategies:

1. Review Collector Assignments
   • Confirm which sites are associated with the shared collector
2. Audit Alert Policies
   • Ensure only the intended site(s) have active Collector Disconnected alerts
3. Check Notification Channels
   • Validate that only the designated site sends notifications (email, PSA, etc.)
4. Test Behavior
   • Simulate or observe a collector disconnect event
   • Confirm that only a single alert and/or notification is generated

Summary

Duplicate Collector Disconnected alerts occur when a shared collector is monitored independently by multiple sites. By centralizing monitoring, scoping alerts, controlling notification channels, or deploying site-specific collectors, you can significantly reduce alert noise and prevent redundant incident creation.