Post-Tyranny-Tech-Infrastructure/docs/uptime-kuma-email-setup.md

Uptime Kuma Email Notification Setup

Quick Setup Guide

1. Access Uptime Kuma

Open: https://status.vrije.cloud

2. Navigate to Settings

1. Click on Settings (gear icon) in the left sidebar
2. Click on Notifications

3. Add Email (SMTP) Notification

1. Click Setup Notification
2. Select Email (SMTP)
3. Configure with these settings:

Notification Type: Email (SMTP)
Friendly Name: PTT Email Alerts

SMTP Settings:
  Hostname: smtp.strato.com
  Port: 587
  Security: STARTTLS (or "None" with TLS unchecked)

Authentication:
  Username: server@postxsociety.org
  Password: <retrieve from password manager or monitoring server>

From Email: server@postxsociety.org
To Email: mail@postxsociety.org

Custom Subject (optional):
  [🔴 DOWN] {msg}
  [✅ UP] {msg}

Note: SMTP password is stored on the monitoring server at /opt/docker/diun/docker-compose.yml if you need to retrieve it.

4. Test the Notification

1. Click Test button
2. Check mail@postxsociety.org for test email
3. If successful, click Save

5. Apply to All Monitors

Option A - Apply when creating monitors:

• When creating each monitor, select this notification in the "Notifications" section

Option B - Apply to existing monitors:

1. Go to each monitor's settings (Edit button)
2. Scroll to "Notifications" section
3. Enable "PTT Email Alerts"
4. Click Save

6. Configure Alert Rules

In the notification settings or per-monitor:

What to alert on:

• ✅ When service goes down - Immediate alert
• ✅ When service comes back up - Immediate alert
• ✅ Certificate expiring - 30 days before
• ✅ Certificate expiring - 7 days before

Alert frequency:

• Send alert immediately when status changes
• Repeat notification every 60 minutes if still down (optional)

Testing

After setup, test by:

1. Creating a test monitor pointing to a non-existent URL
2. Wait for it to show as "DOWN"
3. Verify email notification received
4. Delete the test monitor

Troubleshooting

No emails received

1. Check SMTP settings are correct
2. Test SMTP connection:

   telnet smtp.strato.com 587
   

3. Check spam/junk folder
4. Verify email address is correct

Authentication failed

• Double-check username and password
• Ensure no extra spaces in credentials
• Try re-saving the notification

Connection timeout

• Verify port 587 is not blocked by firewall
• Try port 25 or 465 (with SSL/TLS)
• Check if SMTP server allows connections from monitoring server IP

Alternative: Use Environment Variables

If you want to configure email at container level, update the Docker Compose file:

services:
  uptime-kuma:
    environment:
      # Add SMTP environment variables here if supported by future versions

Currently, Uptime Kuma requires web UI configuration for SMTP.

Notification Settings Per Monitor

When creating monitors for clients, ensure:

• HTTP(S) monitors: Enable email notifications
• SSL monitors: Enable email notifications with 30-day and 7-day warnings
• Alert threshold: 3 failed checks before alerting (prevents false positives)

Email Template

Uptime Kuma sends emails with:

• Monitor name
• Status (UP/DOWN)
• Timestamp
• Response time
• Error message (if applicable)
• Link to monitor in Uptime Kuma

Best Practices

1. Test regularly - Verify emails are being received
2. Multiple recipients - Add additional email addresses for redundancy
3. Alert fatigue - Don't over-alert; use reasonable thresholds
4. Maintenance mode - Pause monitors during planned maintenance
5. Group notifications - Create notification groups for different teams

Related

• Monitoring Documentation
• Uptime Kuma Notification Docs: https://github.com/louislam/uptime-kuma/wiki/Notification-Methods