Thresholds and Notifications

Thresholds and notifications

Choosing limits

Enter a positive whole number and a unit. Enter -1 to disable a limit. Zero, other negative numbers, fractions, and malformed input do not represent valid active limits. The settings UI offers B, KB, MB, GB, and TB. Thresholds show Disabled in red for -1, Enabled in green for a positive whole-number limit, and Invalid in red for invalid input. These labels describe the entered limit; notifications and actions use their separate switches. Threshold, unit, and action controls stay readable and editable; the label updates as you type.

The primary interface has eight checks: RX and TX for hour, day, month, and year. Its threshold settings use a table with one row per check and separate columns for the limit, unit, Docker stop/start, and VM disconnect/reconnect selections, matching the secondary section. On narrow screens, scroll the primary table horizontally to reach all action columns. The six secondary slots each choose one period and one direction. Secondary slots must not use the primary interface; use its primary controls instead.

The evaluator uses vnStat's native period, unit, and comparison behavior. A limit is exceeded when usage is strictly greater than the limit. The latest vnStat period record is used; labels do not imply a rolling 24-hour or 30-day window. Unit interpretation follows vnStat configuration, including UnitMode. Report formatting uses decimal sizes, so do not infer threshold conversion solely from a displayed rounded figure. Check effective settings when exact byte limits matter.

Evaluated state and notification switches

The notification check runs once per minute when notifications or user actions are enabled. The UI refresh interval is separate. Rules have four results:

Result	Behavior
Disabled	No threshold action is performed.
Normal	Recovery behavior can run after a recorded exceeded state.
Exceeded	Configured exceeded notifications/actions can run on the transition.
Unavailable/error	No threshold action is performed; existing transition state is preserved.

Reports aggregate matching custom rules. Confirmed exceeded takes precedence over unavailable, which takes precedence over normal. Unknown does not establish that traffic is below its limit.

Exceeded and recovery notifications have separate switches. User actions also have separate exceeded and recovery switches. These global switches govern eligible primary and secondary rules.

Settings labels describe the entered limit: red Disabled for -1, green Enabled for a valid positive whole-number value, and red Invalid for invalid input. An Enabled label does not turn on the separate global notification/action switches or promise that backend data is available.

Action transitions, outcomes, and explicit retries