* [Alerts][License] Define minimum license required for each alert type (#84997) * Define minimum license required for each alert type * fixed typechecks * fixed tests * fixed tests * fixed due to comments * fixed due to comments * removed file * removed casting to LicenseType * [Alerts][License] Add license checks to alerts HTTP APIs and execution (#85223) * [Alerts][License] Add license checks to alerts HTTP APIs and execution * fixed typechecks * resolved conflicts * resolved conflicts * added router tests * fixed typechecks * added license check support for alert task running * fixed typechecks * added integration tests * fixed due to comments * fixed due to comments * fixed tests * fixed typechecks * [Alerting UI][License] Disable alert types in UI when the license doesn't support it. (#85496) * [Alerting UI][License] Disable alert types in UI when the license doesn't support it. * fixed typechecks * added licensing for alert list and details page * fixed multy select menu * fixed due to comments * fixed due to comments * fixed due to comments * fixed typechecks * fixed license error message * fixed license error message * fixed typechecks * fixed license error message Co-authored-by: Kibana Machine <42973632+kibanamachine@users.noreply.github.com> |
||
---|---|---|
.. | ||
common | ||
server | ||
jest.config.js | ||
kibana.json | ||
README.md |
Kibana Actions
The Kibana actions plugin provides a framework to create executable actions. You can:
- Register an action type and associate a JavaScript function to run when actions are executed.
- Get a list of registered action types
- Create an action from an action type and encrypted configuration object.
- Get a list of actions that have been created.
- Execute an action, passing it a parameter object.
- Perform CRUD operations on actions.
Table of Contents
- Kibana Actions
- Terminology
- Usage
- Kibana Actions Configuration
- Action types
- RESTful API
POST /api/actions/action
: Create actionDELETE /api/actions/action/{id}
: Delete actionGET /api/actions
: Get all actionsGET /api/actions/action/{id}
: Get actionGET /api/actions/list_action_types
: List action typesPUT /api/actions/action/{id}
: Update actionPOST /api/actions/action/{id}/_execute
: Execute action
- Firing actions
- Accessing a scoped ActionsClient
- Example
- Example
- Built-in Action Types
- Command Line Utility
- Developing New Action Types
Terminology
Action Type: A programatically defined integration with another service, with an expected set of configuration and parameters properties, typically defined with a schema. Plugins can add new action types.
Action: A configuration object associated with an action type, that is ready to be executed. The configuration is persisted via Saved Objects, and some/none/all of the configuration properties can be stored encrypted.
Usage
- Develop and register an action type (see action types -> example).
- Create an action by using the RESTful API (see actions -> create action).
- Use alerts to execute actions or execute manually (see firing actions).
Kibana Actions Configuration
Implemented under the Actions Config.
Configuration Options
Built-In-Actions are configured using the xpack.actions namespoace under kibana.yml, and have the following configuration options:
Namespaced Key | Description | Type |
---|---|---|
xpack.actions.enabled | Feature toggle which enabled Actions in Kibana. | boolean |
xpack.actions.allowedHosts | Which hostnames are allowed for the Built-In-Action? This list should contain hostnames of every external service you wish to interact with using Webhooks, Email or any other built in Action. Note that you may use the string "*" in place of a specific hostname to enable Kibana to target any URL, but keep in mind the potential use of such a feature to execute SSRF attacks from your server. | Array |
xpack.actions.enabledActionTypes | A list of actionTypes id's that are enabled. A "*" may be used as an element to indicate all registered actionTypes should be enabled. The actionTypes registered for Kibana are .server-log , .slack , .email , .index , .pagerduty , .webhook . Default: ["*"] |
Array |
xpack.actions.preconfigured | A object of action id / preconfigured actions. Default: {} |
Array |
Adding Built-in Action Types to allowedHosts
It is worth noting that the allowedHosts configuation applies to built-in action types (such as Slack, or PagerDuty) as well.
Uniquely, the PagerDuty Action Type has been configured to support the service's Events API (at https://events.pagerduty.com/v2/enqueue, which you can read about here) as a default, but this too, must be included in the allowedHosts before the PagerDuty action can be used.
Configuration Utilities
This module provides a Utilities for interacting with the configuration.
Method | Arguments | Description | Return Type |
---|---|---|---|
isUriAllowed | uri: The URI you wish to validate is allowed | Validates whether the URI is allowed. This checks the configuration and validates that the hostname of the URI is in the list of allowed Hosts and returns true if it is allowed. If the configuration says that all URI's are allowed (using an "*") then it will always return true . |
Boolean |
isHostnameAllowed | hostname: The Hostname you wish to validate is allowed | Validates whether the Hostname is allowed. This checks the configuration and validates that the hostname is in the list of allowed Hosts and returns true if it is allowed. If the configuration says that all Hostnames are allowed (using an "*") then it will always return true . |
Boolean |
isActionTypeEnabled | actionType: The actionType to check to see if it's enabled | Returns true if the actionType is enabled, otherwise false. | Boolean |
ensureUriAllowed | uri: The URI you wish to validate is allowed | Validates whether the URI is allowed. This checks the configuration and validates that the hostname of the URI is in the list of allowed Hosts and throws an error if it is not allowed. If the configuration says that all URI's are allowed (using an "*") then it will never throw. | No return value, throws if URI isn't allowed |
ensureHostnameAllowed | hostname: The Hostname you wish to validate is allowed | Validates whether the Hostname is allowed. This checks the configuration and validates that the hostname is in the list of allowed Hosts and throws an error if it is not allowed. If the configuration says that all Hostnames are allowed (using an "*") then it will never throw | No return value, throws if Hostname isn't allowed . |
ensureActionTypeEnabled | actionType: The actionType to check to see if it's enabled | Throws an error if the actionType is not enabled | No return value, throws if actionType isn't enabled |
Action types
Methods
server.plugins.actions.setup.registerType(options)
The following table describes the properties of the options
object.
Property | Description | Type |
---|---|---|
id | Unique identifier for the action type. For convention, ids starting with . are reserved for built in action types. We recommend using a convention like <plugin_id>.mySpecialAction for your action types. |
string |
name | A user-friendly name for the action type. These will be displayed in dropdowns when chosing action types. | string |
unencryptedAttributes | A list of opt-out attributes that don't need to be encrypted. These attributes won't need to be re-entered on import / export when the feature becomes available. These attributes will also be readable / displayed when it comes to a table / edit screen. | array of strings |
validate.params | When developing an action type, it needs to accept parameters to know what to do with the action. (Example to, from, subject, body of an email). See the current built-in email action type for an example of the state-of-the-art validation. Technically, the value of this property should have a property named |
schema / validation function |
validate.config | Similar to params, a config is required when creating an action (for example host, port, username, and password of an email server). | schema / validation function |
executor | This is where the code of an action type lives. This is a function gets called for executing an action from either alerting or manually by using the exposed function (see firing actions). For full details, see executor section below. | Function |
Important - The config object is persisted in ElasticSearch and updated via the ElasticSearch update document API. This API allows "partial updates" - and this can cause issues with the encryption used on specified properties. So, a validate()
function should return values for all configuration properties, so that partial updates do not occur. Setting property values to null
rather than undefined
, or not including a property in the config object, is all you need to do to ensure partial updates won't occur.
Executor
This is the primary function for an action type. Whenever the action needs to execute, this function will perform the action. It receives a variety of parameters. The following table describes the properties that the executor receives.
executor(options)
Property | Description |
---|---|
actionId | The action saved object id that the action type is executing for. |
config | The decrypted configuration given to an action. This comes from the action saved object that is partially or fully encrypted within the data store. If you would like to validate the config before being passed to the executor, define validate.config within the action type. |
params | Parameters for the execution. These will be given at execution time by either an alert or manually provided when calling the plugin provided execute function. |
services.callCluster(path, opts) | Use this to do Elasticsearch queries on the cluster Kibana connects to. This function is the same as any other callCluster in Kibana but runs in the context of the user who is calling the action when security is enabled. |
services.getLegacyScopedClusterClient | This function returns an instance of the LegacyScopedClusterClient scoped to the user who is calling the action when security is enabled. |
services.savedObjectsClient | This is an instance of the saved objects client. This provides the ability to do CRUD on any saved objects within the same space the alert lives in. The scope of the saved objects client is tied to the user in context calling the execute API or the API key provided to the execute plugin function (only when security isenabled). |
services.log(tags, [data], [timestamp]) | Use this to create server logs. (This is the same function as server.log) |
Example
The built-in email action type provides a good example of creating an action type with non-trivial configuration and params: x-pack/plugins/actions/server/builtin_action_types/email.ts
RESTful API
Using an action type requires an action to be created that will contain and encrypt configuration for a given action type. See below for CRUD operations using the API.
POST /api/actions/action
: Create action
Payload:
Property | Description | Type |
---|---|---|
name | A name to reference and search in the future. This value will be used to populate dropdowns. | string |
actionTypeId | The id value of the action type you want to call when the action executes. | string |
config | The configuration the action type expects. See related action type to see what attributes are expected. This will also validate against the action type if config validation is defined. | object |
secrets | The secrets the action type expects. See related action type to see what attributes are expected. This will also validate against the action type if secrets validation is defined. | object |
DELETE /api/actions/action/{id}
: Delete action
Params:
Property | Description | Type |
---|---|---|
id | The id of the action you're trying to delete. | string |
GET /api/actions
: Get all actions
No parameters.
Return all actions from saved objects merged with predefined list.
Use the saved objects API for find with the proprties: type: 'action'
and perPage: 10000
.
List of predefined actions should be set up in Kibana.yaml.
GET /api/actions/action/{id}
: Get action
Params:
Property | Description | Type |
---|---|---|
id | The id of the action you're trying to get. | string |
GET /api/actions/list_action_types
: List action types
No parameters.
PUT /api/actions/action/{id}
: Update action
Params:
Property | Description | Type |
---|---|---|
id | The id of the action you're trying to update. | string |
Payload:
Property | Description | Type |
---|---|---|
name | A name to reference and search in the future. This value will be used to populate dropdowns. | string |
config | The configuration the action type expects. See related action type to see what attributes are expected. This will also validate against the action type if config validation is defined. | object |
secrets | The secrets the action type expects. See related action type to see what attributes are expected. This will also validate against the action type if secrets validation is defined. | object |
POST /api/actions/action/{id}/_execute
: Execute action
Params:
Property | Description | Type |
---|---|---|
id | The id of the action you're trying to execute. | string |
Payload:
Property | Description | Type |
---|---|---|
params | The parameters the action type requires for the execution. | object |
Firing actions
Running actions is possible by using the ActionsClient which is provided by the getActionsClientWithRequest
function part of the plugin's Start Contract.
By providing the user's Request you'll receive an instance of the ActionsClient which is tailered to the current user and is scoped to the resources the user is authorized to access.
Accessing a scoped ActionsClient
const actionsClient = server.plugins.actions.getActionsClientWithRequest(request);
Once you have a scoped ActionsClient you can execute an action by caling either the enqueueExecution
which will schedule the action to run later or the execute
apis which will run it immediately and return the result respectively.
actionsClient.enqueueExecution(options)
This api schedules a task which will run the action using the current user scope at the soonest opportunity.
Running the action by scheduling a task means that we will no longer have a user request by which to ascertain the action's privileges and so you might need to provide these yourself:
- The SpaceId in which the user's action is expected to run
- When security is enabled you'll also need to provide an apiKey which allows us to mimic the user and their privileges.
The following table describes the properties of the options
object.
Property | Description | Type |
---|---|---|
id | The id of the action you want to execute. | string |
params | The params value to give the action type executor. |
object |
spaceId | The space id the action is within. | string |
apiKey | The Elasticsearch API key to use for context. (Note: only required and used when security is enabled). | string |
source | The source of the execution, either an HTTP request or a reference to a Saved Object. | object, optional |
Example
This example makes action 3c5b2bd4-5424-4e4b-8cf5-c0a58c762cc5
send an email. The action plugin will load the saved object and find what action type to call with params
.
const request: KibanaRequest = { ... };
const actionsClient = await server.plugins.actions.getActionsClientWithRequest(request);
await actionsClient.enqueueExecution({
id: '3c5b2bd4-5424-4e4b-8cf5-c0a58c762cc5',
spaceId: 'default', // The spaceId of the action
params: {
from: 'example@elastic.co',
to: ['destination@elastic.co'],
subject: 'My email subject',
body: 'My email body',
},
source: asHttpRequestExecutionSource(request),
});
actionsClient.execute(options)
This api runs the action and asynchronously returns the result of running the action.
The following table describes the properties of the options
object.
Property | Description | Type |
---|---|---|
id | The id of the action you want to execute. | string |
params | The params value to give the action type executor. |
object |
source | The source of the execution, either an HTTP request or a reference to a Saved Object. | object, optional |
Example
As with the previous example, we'll use the action 3c5b2bd4-5424-4e4b-8cf5-c0a58c762cc5
to send an email.
const actionsClient = await server.plugins.actions.getActionsClientWithRequest(request);
const result = await actionsClient.execute({
id: '3c5b2bd4-5424-4e4b-8cf5-c0a58c762cc5',
params: {
from: 'example@elastic.co',
to: ['destination@elastic.co'],
subject: 'My email subject',
body: 'My email body',
},
source: asSavedObjectExecutionSource({
id: '573891ae-8c48-49cb-a197-0cd5ec34a88b',
type: 'alert',
}),
});
Built-in Action Types
Kibana ships with a set of built-in action types:
Type | Id | Description |
---|---|---|
Server log | .server-log |
Logs messages to the Kibana log using Kibana's logger |
.email |
Sends an email using SMTP | |
Slack | .slack |
Posts a message to a slack channel |
Index | .index |
Indexes document(s) into Elasticsearch |
Webhook | .webhook |
Send a payload to a web service using HTTP POST or PUT |
PagerDuty | .pagerduty |
Trigger, resolve, or acknowlege an incident to a PagerDuty service |
ServiceNow | .servicenow |
Create or update an incident to a ServiceNow instance |
Jira | .jira |
Create or update an issue to a Jira instance |
IBM Resilient | .resilient |
Create or update an incident to a IBM Resilient instance |
Server log
ID: .log
The params properties are modelled after the arguments to the Hapi.server.log() function.
config
This action has no config
properties.
secrets
This action type has no secrets
properties.
params
Property | Description | Type |
---|---|---|
message | The message to log. | string |
tags | Tags associated with the message to log. | string[] (optional) |
ID: .email
This action type uses nodemailer to send emails.
config
Either the property service
must be provided, or the host
and port
properties must be provided. If service
is provided, host
, port
and secure
are ignored. For more information on the gmail
service value specifically, see the nodemailer gmail documentation.
The secure
property defaults to false
. See the nodemailer TLS documentation for more information.
The from
field can be specified as in typical "user@host-name"
format, or as "human name <user@host-name>"
format. See the nodemailer address documentation for more information.
Property | Description | Type |
---|---|---|
service | the name of a well-known email service provider | string (optional) |
host | host name of the service provider | string (optional) |
port | port number of the service provider | number (optional) |
secure | whether to use TLS with the service provider | boolean (optional) |
from | the from address for all emails sent with this action type | string |
secrets
Property | Description | Type |
---|---|---|
user | userid to use with the service provider | string |
password | password to use with the service provider | string |
params
There must be at least one entry in the to
, cc
and bcc
arrays.
The message text will be sent as both plain text and html text. Additional function may be provided later.
The to
, cc
, and bcc
array entries can be in the same format as the from
property described in the config object above.
Property | Description | Type |
---|---|---|
to | list of to addressees | string[] (optional) |
cc | list of cc addressees | string[] (optional) |
bcc | list of bcc addressees | string[] (optional) |
subject | the subject line of the email | string |
message | the message text | string |
Slack
ID: .slack
This action type interfaces with the Slack Incoming Webhooks feature. Currently the params property message
will be used as the text
property of the Slack incoming message. Additional function may be provided later.
config
This action type has no config
properties.
secrets
Property | Description | Type |
---|---|---|
webhookUrl | the url of the Slack incoming webhook | string |
params
Property | Description | Type |
---|---|---|
message | the message text | string |
Index
ID: .index
The config and params properties are modelled after the Watcher Index Action. The index can be set in the config or params, and if set in config, then the index set in the params will be ignored.
config
Property | Description | Type |
---|---|---|
index | The Elasticsearch index to index into. | string (optional) |
doc_id | The optional _id of the document. | string (optional) |
execution_time_field | The field that will store/index the action execution time. | string (optional) |
refresh | Setting of the refresh policy for the write request. | boolean (optional) |
secrets
This action type has no secrets
properties.
params
Property | Description | Type |
---|---|---|
documents | JSON object that describes the document. | object[] |
Webhook
ID: .webhook
The webhook action uses axios to send a POST or PUT request to a web service.
config
Property | Description | Type |
---|---|---|
url | Request URL | string |
method | HTTP request method, either post (default) or put |
string (optional) |
headers | Key-value pairs of the headers to send with the request | object, keys and values are strings (optional) |
secrets
Property | Description | Type |
---|---|---|
user | Username for HTTP Basic authentication | string (optional) |
password | Password for HTTP Basic authentication | string (optional) |
params
Property | Description | Type |
---|---|---|
body | The HTTP request body | string (optional) |
PagerDuty
ID: .pagerduty
The PagerDuty action uses the V2 Events API to trigger, acknowlege, and resolve PagerDuty alerts.
config
Property | Description | Type |
---|---|---|
apiUrl | PagerDuty event URL. Defaults to https://events.pagerduty.com/v2/enqueue |
string (optional) |
secrets
Property | Description | Type |
---|---|---|
routingKey | This is the 32 character PagerDuty Integration Key for an integration on a service or on a global ruleset. | string |
params
Property | Description | Type |
---|---|---|
eventAction | One of trigger (default), resolve , or acknowlege . See event action for more details. |
string (optional) |
dedupKey | All actions sharing this key will be associated with the same PagerDuty alert. Used to correlate trigger and resolution. The maximum length is 255 characters. See alert deduplication for details. | string (optional) |
summary | A text summary of the event, defaults to No summary provided . The maximum length is 1024 characters. |
string (optional) |
source | The affected system, preferably a hostname or fully qualified domain name. Defaults to Kibana Action <action id> . |
string (optional) |
severity | The perceived severity of on the affected system. This can be one of critical , error , warning or info (default). |
string (optional) |
timestamp | An ISO-8601 format date-time, indicating the time the event was detected or generated. | string (optional) |
component | The component of the source machine that is responsible for the event, for example mysql or eth0 . |
string (optional) |
group | Logical grouping of components of a service, for example app-stack . |
string (optional) |
class | The class/type of the event, for example ping failure or cpu load . |
string (optional) |
For more details see PagerDuty v2 event parameters.
ServiceNow
ID: .servicenow
The ServiceNow action uses the V2 Table API to create and update ServiceNow incidents.
config
Property | Description | Type |
---|---|---|
apiUrl | ServiceNow instance URL. | string |
incidentConfiguration | Optional property and specific to Cases only. If defined, the object should contain an attribute called mapping . A mapping is an array of objects. Each mapping object should be of the form { source: string, target: string, actionType: string } . source is the Case field. target is the ServiceNow field where source will be mapped to. actionType can be one of nothing , overwrite or append . For example the { source: 'title', target: 'short_description', actionType: 'overwrite' } record, inside mapping array, means that the title of a case will be mapped to the short description of an incident in ServiceNow and will be overwrite on each update. |
object (optional) |
secrets
Property | Description | Type |
---|---|---|
username | Username for HTTP Basic authentication | string |
password | Password for HTTP Basic authentication | string |
params
Property | Description | Type |
---|---|---|
subAction | The sub action to perform. It can be getFields , pushToService , handshake , and getIncident |
string |
subActionParams | The parameters of the sub action | object |
subActionParams (pushToService)
Property | Description | Type |
---|---|---|
savedObjectId | The id of the saved object. | string |
title | The title of the incident. | string (optional) |
description | The description of the incident. | string (optional) |
comment | A comment. | string (optional) |
comments | The comments of the case. A comment is of the form { commentId: string, version: string, comment: string } . |
object[] (optional) |
externalId | The id of the incident in ServiceNow. If presented the incident will be update. Otherwise a new incident will be created. | string (optional) |
severity | The name of the severity in ServiceNow. | string (optional) |
urgency | The name of the urgency in ServiceNow. | string (optional) |
impact | The name of the impact in ServiceNow. | string (optional) |
subActionParams (getFields)
No parameters for getFields
sub-action. Provide an empty object {}
.
Jira
ID: .jira
The Jira action uses the V2 API to create and update Jira incidents.
config
Property | Description | Type |
---|---|---|
apiUrl | Jira instance URL. | string |
incidentConfiguration | Optional property and specific to Cases only. if defined, the object should contain an attribute called mapping . A mapping is an array of objects. Each mapping object should be of the form { source: string, target: string, actionType: string } . source is the Case field. target is the Jira field where source will be mapped to. actionType can be one of nothing , overwrite or append . For example the { source: 'title', target: 'summary', actionType: 'overwrite' } record, inside mapping array, means that the title of a case will be mapped to the short description of an incident in Jira and will be overwrite on each update. |
object (optional) |
secrets
Property | Description | Type |
---|---|---|
email (or username) for HTTP Basic authentication | string | |
apiToken | API token (or password) for HTTP Basic authentication | string |
params
Property | Description | Type |
---|---|---|
subAction | The sub action to perform. It can be getFields , pushToService , handshake , getIncident , issueTypes , and fieldsByIssueType |
string |
subActionParams | The parameters of the sub action | object |
subActionParams (pushToService)
Property | Description | Type |
---|---|---|
savedObjectId | The id of the saved object | string |
title | The title of the issue | string (optional) |
description | The description of the issue | string (optional) |
externalId | The id of the issue in Jira. If presented the incident will be update. Otherwise a new incident will be created. | string (optional) |
issueType | The id of the issue type in Jira. | string (optional) |
priority | The name of the priority in Jira. Example: Medium . |
string (optional) |
labels | An array of labels. | string[] (optional) |
parent | The parent issue id or key. Only for Sub-task issue types. |
string (optional) |
comments | The comments of the case. A comment is of the form { commentId: string, version: string, comment: string } |
object[] (optional) |
subActionParams (issueTypes)
No parameters for issueTypes
sub-action. Provide an empty object {}
.
subActionParams (getFields)
No parameters for getFields
sub-action. Provide an empty object {}
.
subActionParams (pushToService)
Property | Description | Type |
---|---|---|
id | The id of the issue type in Jira | string |
IBM Resilient
ID: .resilient
config
Property | Description | Type |
---|---|---|
apiUrl | IBM Resilient instance URL. | string |
incidentConfiguration | Optional property and specific to Cases only. If defined, the object should contain an attribute called mapping . A mapping is an array of objects. Each mapping object should be of the form { source: string, target: string, actionType: string } . source is the Case field. target is the Jira field where source will be mapped to. actionType can be one of nothing , overwrite or append . For example the { source: 'title', target: 'summary', actionType: 'overwrite' } record, inside mapping array, means that the title of a case will be mapped to the short description of an incident in IBM Resilient and will be overwrite on each update. |
object |
secrets
Property | Description | Type |
---|---|---|
apiKeyId | API key ID for HTTP Basic authentication | string |
apiKeySecret | API key secret for HTTP Basic authentication | string |
params
Property | Description | Type |
---|---|---|
subAction | The sub action to perform. It can be getFields , pushToService , handshake , and getIncident |
string |
subActionParams | The parameters of the sub action | object |
subActionParams (pushToService)
Property | Description | Type |
---|---|---|
savedObjectId | The id of the saved object | string |
title | The title of the incident | string (optional) |
description | The description of the incident | string (optional) |
comments | The comments of the incident. A comment is of the form { commentId: string, version: string, comment: string } |
object[] (optional) |
externalId | The id of the incident in IBM Resilient. If presented the incident will be update. Otherwise a new incident will be created. | string (optional) |
incidentTypes | An array with the ids of IBM Resilient incident types. | number[] (optional) |
severityCode | IBM Resilient id of the severity code. | number (optional) |
subActionParams (getFields)
No parameters for getFields
sub-action. Provide an empty object {}
.
Command Line Utility
The kbn-action
tool can be used to send HTTP requests to the Actions plugin. For instance, to create a Slack action from the .slack
Action Type, use the following command:
$ kbn-action create .slack "post to slack" '{"webhookUrl": "https://hooks.slack.com/services/T0000/B0000/XXXX"}'
{
"type": "action",
"id": "d6f1e228-1806-4a72-83ac-e06f3d5c2fbe",
"attributes": {
"actionTypeId": ".slack",
"name": "post to slack",
"config": {}
},
"references": [],
"updated_at": "2019-06-26T17:55:42.728Z",
"version": "WzMsMV0="
}
Developing New Action Types
When creating a new action type, your plugin will eventually call server.plugins.actions.setup.registerType()
to register the type with the actions plugin, but there are some additional things to think about about and implement.
Consider working with the alerting team on early structure /design feedback of new actions, especially as the APIs and infrastructure are still under development.
licensing
Currently actions are licensed as "basic" if the action only interacts with the stack, eg the server log and es index actions. Other actions are at least "gold" level.
plugin location
Currently actions that are licensed as "basic" MUST be implemented in the actions plugin, other actions can be implemented in any other plugin that pre-reqs the actions plugin. If the new action is generic across the stack, it probably belongs in the actions plugin, but if your action is very specific to a plugin/solution, it might be easiest to implement it in the plugin/solution. Keep in mind that if Kibana is run without the plugin being enabled, any actions defined in that plugin will not run, nor will those actions be available via APIs or UI.
Actions that take URLs or hostnames should check that those values are allowed. The allowed host list utilities are currently internal to the actions plugin, and so such actions will need to be implemented in the actions plugin. Longer-term, we will expose these utilities so they can be used by alerts implemented in other plugins; see issue #64659.
documentation
You should also create some asciidoc for the new action type. An entry should be made in the action type index - docs/user/alerting/action-types.asciidoc
which points to a new document for the action type that should be in the directory docs/user/alerting/action-types
.
tests
The action type should have both jest tests and functional tests. For functional tests, if your action interacts with a 3rd party service via HTTP, you may be able to create a simulator for your service, to test with. See the existing functional test servers in the directory x-pack/test/alerting_api_integration/common/fixtures/plugins/actions_simulators/server
action type config and secrets
Action types must define config
and secrets
which are used to create connectors. This data should be described with @kbn/config-schema
object schemas, and you MUST NOT use schema.maybe()
to define properties.
This is due to the fact that the structures are persisted in saved objects, which performs partial updates on the persisted data. If a property value is already persisted, but an update either doesn't include the property, or sets it to undefined
, the persisted value will not be changed. Beyond this being a semantic error in general, it also ends up invalidating the encryption used to save secrets, and will render the secrets will not be able to be unencrypted later.
Instead of schema.maybe()
, use schema.nullable()
, which is the same as schema.maybe()
except that when passed an undefined
value, the object returned from the validation will be set to null
. The resulting type will be property-type | null
, whereas with schema.maybe()
it would be property-type | undefined
.
user interface
In order to make this action usable in the Kibana UI, you will need to provide all the UI editing aspects of the action. The existing action type user interfaces are defined in x-pack/plugins/triggers_actions_ui/public/application/components/builtin_action_types
. For more information, see the UI documentation.