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WhatsUp Gold SMS notifications with an Email Action

A WhatsUp Gold SMS notification reaches the admin on call when a switch or access point stays down past two minutes. The text names the device, group and time, and one dropped ping stays quiet. In WhatsUp Gold you build a single Email Action to your Welco address and attach it to an action policy.

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  • One Email Action, one action policy
  • No plug-in or SMS modem
  • No per-user fees

Works by email with

  • WhatsUp Gold

Published:

A network map watched by WhatsUp Gold: five hosts answer pings until ap-gym-02 goes down (No ping 2 min) and the monitor raises the alert. The email reaches Welco and the phone shows: “Welco: [ap-gym-02] Ping Down 2+ min, Campus North at 6:42 AM. Reply STOP to opt out.”

Animation: a long WhatsUp Gold alert email is trimmed into one short text: "Welco: [ap-gym-02] Ping Down 2+ min, Campus North at 6:42 AM. Reply STOP to opt out."

What WhatsUp Gold texts change for the on-call admin

  • Outages, not blips

    The action fires on Down at least 2 min, so a lost ping or a quick reboot stays off the phone.

  • Tonight's phone, tonight

    After-hours state changes reach whoever covers the night. Daytime ones go to the network team.

  • Device and group at a glance

    Each text names the device, its group and the minute it went down. No console login needed.

  • Current actions keep running

    Devices keep the email actions they have today. The Welco address is one extra recipient.

What you need before you start

Give it about 15 minutes, signed in with rights to edit actions and action policies. The server monitoring SMS alerts overview covers the other tools that work this way.

  • A mail server WhatsUp Gold can send through. Each Email Action stores its own mail server settings.
  • A device group or dynamic group holding the gear that deserves a text.
  • Your Welco address, issued once your business is verified. Start free to set one up.
  • People on call invited to Welco, each on their own mobile. Each person confirms with YES before any alert arrives.

Set up WhatsUp Gold SMS notification in 5 steps

WhatsUp Gold splits the action, which says how to notify, from the action policy, which says when. You build one of each.

  1. Create an Email Action

    Open the Action Library from the actions and alerts settings and add a new Email Action named Text on-call. Enter your Welco address as the recipient, plus your mail server details.

    • Use a From address you'll recognize, such as whatsup@ at your domain.
    • Pick plain text for the message and keep the subject to the device and its state.

  2. Approve that From address in Welco

    Add the action's From address to your Welco sender allow list. Alert mail from any address you haven't approved is refused.

  3. Build an action policy

    Create a policy named Night texts. Add Text on-call on the Down at least 2 min state. Add it again on Up only if the team wants recovery texts.

  4. Apply the policy to devices

    Assign the policy to the device group, or to single devices in their actions settings. Devices without it keep their current email actions.

  5. Test the action

    Run the test option on the Email Action, then unplug a spare device on a test port and wait two minutes. To check the result first, try alerts with no texts sent in Welco.

Your WhatsUp Gold outages, on the on-call phone

One Email Action and one policy. Nothing new runs on the WhatsUp Gold server.

7-day free trial, 15 message creditsCard required for verificationNo charge for 7 daysEmail reminder before billing

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A WhatsUp Gold monitor alert as a text

Active monitors such as HTTP or a Windows service send their own state messages. The text keeps the monitor, the device and the time. School and district IT teams use the same pattern, see school IT alert texts.

Alert email from whatsup@netops.example.com, subject “WhatsUp Gold: HTTP on web-portal-1 is Down”. Welco trims it to one text of 86 characters: “Welco: [web-portal-1] HTTP Down 5+ min, timed out at 9:17 PM. Reply STOP to opt out.”

Text received: Welco: [web-portal-1] HTTP Down 5+ min, timed out at 9:17 PM. Reply STOP to opt out.

Characters321861 credit

Animation: the alert email "WhatsUp Gold: HTTP on web-portal-1 is Down" is trimmed into one text: "Welco: [web-portal-1] HTTP Down 5+ min, timed out at 9:17 PM. Reply STOP to opt out."

You can edit the action's message with WhatsUp Gold's own variables. A short message plus shorter alert texts in Welco keeps each alert to one credit.

Tune WhatsUp Gold states so texts mean something

Device states and action policies are your best filter. Welco then decides which phone gets the text, and when.

  • Bouncing links wait longer

    For a link that flaps, attach the action to Down at least 5 min instead. Keep plain Down for email only.

  • Recovery texts are your call

    Leave the action off the Up state for problems only. A Welco keyword rule can also drop messages that say is Up.

  • Maintenance mode keeps planned work quiet

    Devices in maintenance mode don't fire their actions. Set it before a firmware push and clear it when you're done.

  • Each state is one more text

    Adding the action to both Down at least 2 min and Down at least 20 min sends a reminder text. Use one state if one text is enough.

  • Dependencies stop the pile-up

    With dependencies set, devices behind a dead core switch aren't polled on their own. Welco's per-phone burst limits cap whatever still arrives.

  • The group name picks the phone

    Put the group in the subject line. Welco rules text each site's admin, and time-of-day routing hands nights to the on-call phone.

If WhatsUp Gold doesn't text

Follow the alert from the device to the phone and stop where it disappears.

The action log shows nothing

Where to look
The policy isn't on that device, or the device never reached the state.

The action ran and failed

Where to look
Recheck the mail server, port and login inside the Email Action.

Welco's feed shows a refused message

Where to look
The From address in the action isn't approved yet.

The feed shows the alert but no text

Where to look
That person hasn't replied YES yet, or replied STOP.

A failed delivery in the feed

Where to look
Delivery receipts per phone give the cause, such as a phone that is off.

Frequently asked questions

Should I use the WhatsUp Gold SMS action or an Email Action?

Use an Email Action. SMS actions depend on a modem or a carrier email-to-text address, and the big carriers are shutting those addresses down. An Email Action to your Welco address keeps working, and nothing is installed on the server.

Can different device groups text different admins, with nights going to on-call?

Yes. Keep one Email Action to your Welco address. In Welco, rules match the group name and pick each admin, and after-hours routing sends night alerts to the on-call phone. You don't need a separate policy for each shift.

Will Up states, flapping links and maintenance work send texts?

Only what your policy allows. Leave the action off the Up state, use a longer Down state for links that bounce, and put devices in maintenance mode before planned work. A Welco rule can drop anything that slips through.

Can the admin acknowledge the alert by replying to the text?

No. A reply is emailed back to the alert's last sender, so the team can see who answered. Handle the device and its state in WhatsUp Gold itself. Read how replies come back by email.

Do my admins need an app to read WhatsUp Gold texts?

No. Each admin joins from a Welco invite with their own mobile number and replies YES. Alerts arrive as normal texts in the phone's messages app.

What does a WhatsUp Gold text cost?

There are no per-user fees and no hardware. Each short state change costs one message credit, so trim long messages before they use two. Trial a WhatsUp Gold action policy for 7 days with 15 credits. Your card stays uncharged until you choose a plan from pricing, and no plan bills overage.

Have WhatsUp Gold text you the next real outage

One Email Action to your Welco address. The policy decides when it fires.

Text me my WhatsUp Gold alertsBook a demo

7-day free trial, 15 message creditsCard required for verificationNo charge for 7 daysEmail reminder before billing