
= Step 2: Turn on Default Notifications
:description: Step 2 of {page-component-title} setup: turn on default notifications, notification definitions, and configuring destination paths.

This section describes how to turn default notifications on in {page-component-title}.

{page-component-title} uses notifications to inform users about xref:deep-dive/events/introduction.adoc[events] in the network without requiring them to log in to the web UI.
Notifications are commonly sent through email and text or pager messages, but can be customized to send to a variety of external systems.
For additional information, including alternative notification mechanisms, see xref:deep-dive/notifications/introduction.adoc[] in the Deep Dive section and the xref:reference:daemons/daemon-config-files/notifd.adoc[notifd] reference section.

== Enable notifications

Notifications are disabled by default in a fresh {page-component-title} installation, as indicated by the red bell symbol in the top menu bar:

image::notifications/red-bell-notifications.png["Portion of Horizon top menu bar displaying a red notification bell symbol", 300]

Follow these steps to enable notifications:

. Log out of the `admin` account and log in as the user that you created in xref:quick-start/users.adoc[].
. Click menu:Administration[Configure OpenNMS] in the side menu.
. Under Event Management, select *On* beside Notification Status, and click *Update*.

The bell symbol in the top menu bar turns green, indicating that notifications are enabled globally.

NOTE: This procedure is functionally equivalent to editing `$\{OPENNMS_HOME}/etc/notifd-configuration.xml` and setting `status="on"` in the top-level `notifd-configuration` element.
This configuration file update happens immediately, with no need to restart {page-component-title}.

=== Notification definitions

The following event notifications are defined by default:

[options="autowidth"]
|===
| Event Notification    | Default State

| High threshold
| OFF

| High threshold rearmed
| OFF

| Low threshold
| OFF

| Low threshold rearmed
| OFF

| interfaceDeleted
| ON

| interfaceDown
| ON

| nodeAdded
| ON

| nodeDown
| ON

| nodeLostService
| ON
|===

You can turn each of them on or off on the Configure Event Notifications page.
See xref:deep-dive/notifications/introduction.adoc[] in the Deep Dive section for more information.

== Configure destination paths

A destination path specifies the "who" (recipient), "when" (delay), and "how" (method) of a notification.
It also specifies the escalation targets.

Configuring destination paths separately for individual events lets you use the same information for multiple notifications.
This encourages reuse and minimizes duplication.

You must specify a destination path to receive notifications from {page-component-title}.
`Email-Admin` is defined by default, and is the notification path when no other paths are specified.
It sends email notifications to all users in the Admin group.

NOTE: For `Email-Admin` to work, you have to configure your email server.
Instructions for this are beyond the scope of the Quick Start guide.

For this example, we will specify a destination path that sends browser pop-up notifications to users in the Admin group (currently, the default `admin` account and the personalized user account that you created in <<quick-start/users.adoc#create-user, Step 1: First-Time Sign In>>).

. Click menu:Administration[Configure OpenNMS] in the side menu.
. Under Event Management, click menu:Configure Notifications[Configure Destination Paths].
. Click *New Path* and configure it:
** Specify a name for the path (for example, "Browser") and define an initial delay.
The initial delay specifies how long {page-component-title} will wait before sending the first notification.
** Click *Edit*.
** Under Send to Selected Groups, select the *Admin* group.
** Click *Next Step*.
** You are prompted to define the time to wait between sending notifications to each member of a group.
For the purpose of this Quick Start guide, do not specify a delay interval, and click *Next Step*.
** Select `Browser` from the list of commands and make sure that it is on.
** Click *Next Step*.
+
The Admin group and the email address that you specified appear in the Initial Targets list.

. Verify the settings, and click *Finish*.

Users in the Admin group will see pop-up notifications in their browsers about events in {page-component-title}.
