Using the notification distribution list

Adding email addresses to a notification distribution list in the console

To add emails to a notification distribution list, complete the following steps:

1. Using the IBM Cloud console, go to Manage > Account > Notification distribution list.

2. Select Add > Email.

3. Enter a name and an email address.

   You can add up to 10 email addresses to the distribution list. Email addresses don't need to correspond to known users in IBM Cloud, you can add any type.

4. Click Add.

Enabling Event Notifications for the notification distribution list

With IBM Cloud® Event Notifications, you can choose to deliver your notifications to different destinations, including email, SMS, or webhooks. Event Notifications is an alternative to the notification distribution list. It provides a way for you to be notified about critical events that occur in your account, and manage your notifications at scale. For more information, see Getting started with Event Notifications.

When an event of interest occurs on the IBM Cloud platform and an event is generated, the notification distribution list communicates with a connected Event Notifications instance to forward a notification to the supported destination. For more information about supported Event Notifications destinations, see Event destinations.

Adding webhooks to a distribution list

To add webhooks to a distribution list, complete the following steps:

1. Go to Manage > Account > Notification distribution list in the IBM Cloud® console.

2. Click Add, and select Add webhook.

3. Enter a name identifier for your webhook and an endpoint URL, where the notifications about events are being sent when the webhook is triggered. Set up the URL that will be your own custom endpoint.

   Custom header and secure header fields are also available to set. You can specify these by clicking Add header or Add secure header. If you choose to add a secure header for credentials, they are passed encrypted with the private data. This type of header can be deleted, but cannot be edited later. You can easily edit and delete custom headers later.

   If you no longer want to receive notifications, you can easily delete your webhook from the distribution list by clicking the Actions icon > Delete in your webhook's row.

   You can select which IBM Cloud account you use by clicking the account switcher in the console. Users in the selected account receive notifications about any events that affect the account.

When you receive a notification through a webhook, a payload is being sent to your given webhook endpoint (URL), and informs you about all the details of an occurring event. See the following example:

{
  "account_id": "2dd2d2de4add4a098ebd0999be5cc555",
  "body": [
    {
      "language": "en",
      "text": "<p><br />SERVICES/COMPONENTS AFFECTED:<br />- Cloudant NoSQL DB<br />- Code Engine<br />- DNS Services<br />- App ID<br />- IBM Watson Machine Learning<br />- Continuous Delivery - Toolchain<br />- MQ in IBM Cloud<br />- Hyper Protect Crypto Services<br /><br />IMPACT:<br />- Users may experience connectivity issues when trying to connect to Cloudant services.<br /><br />STATUS:<br />- 2021-05-25 14:54 UTC - INVESTIGATING - We are aware of the issue and are currently investigating. More information will be provided as it becomes available.</p>"
    }
  ],
  "category": "Incident",
  "componentNames": "Cloudant",
  "continentNames": [
    "North America",
    "Europe",
    "Asia Pacific"
  ],
  "regionNames": [
    "Washington DC",
    "London",
    "Dallas",
    "Sydney",
    "Tokyo",
    "Frankfurt"
  ],
  "regions": [
    "us-east",
    "eu-gb",
    "us-south",
    "au-syd",
    "jp-tok",
    "eu-de"
  ],
  "severity": "Severity 1",
  "sourceID": "INC3918600",
  "startTime": 1621949594,
  "state": "Investigating",
  "title": [
    {
      "language": "en",
      "text": "INVESTIGATING: IBM Cloudant - selective services  are unavailable"
    }
  ],
  "updateTime": 1621954682
}

Adding Slack webhooks to a distribution list

You can add Slack webhooks to your distribution list and receive account-wide IBM Cloud notifications through them.

To create a webhook, first set up an app in Slack and create the incoming webhook, which provides the unique URL where you can send the notification message text in the form of a JSON payload. You will receive the notifications in the selected Slack channel in which you installed your app. For more information, see Sending messages using Incoming Webhooks.

To add a Slack webhook in the IBM Cloud console, complete the following steps:

1. Go to Manage > Account > Notification distribution list in the IBM Cloud console.
2. Click Add, and select Slack.
3. Enter a name for your webhook and a Slack webhook URL. The notifications are sent to this unique URL.

Adding Microsoft Teams webhooks to a distribution list

Adding Microsoft Teams webhooks to your distribution list is also available for you to receive account-wide IBM Cloud notifications.

To create a webhook in the IBM Cloud console, first create the incoming webhook in Microsoft Teams. This allows external apps to share content in Teams channels, and provides the unique URL where you can send the notification message text in the form of a JSON payload. You receive the notifications in the selected Teams channel in which you added the incoming webhook. For more information, see Create Incoming Webhook.

To add a Microsoft Teams webhook in the IBM Cloud console, complete the following steps:

1. Go to Manage > Account > Notification distribution list in the IBM Cloud console.
2. Click Add, and select Microsoft Teams.
3. Enter a name for your webhook and a Microsoft Teams webhook URL. The notifications are sent to this unique URL.

Setting up ServiceNow webhooks

Unlike Microsoft Teams and Slack webhook integrations, setting up a ServiceNow webhook requires configuration to be done on the webhook destination side.

First, you need to create a Scripted REST API on the ServiceNow website. After the Scripted REST API is configured, you also need to create a Scripted REST API Resource. The request method needs to be set to HTTP POST. Then, you need to provide a code for the resource to run.

When you are ready with the process and have the URL for your Scripted REST API, you can start to use it on the IBM Cloud Notification distribution list page and create webhooks.

To get to know the complete ServiceNow webhook integration process, follow the instructions in the How to Integrate Webhooks Into ServiceNow blog post. This blog walks you through the steps in detail.