Updating Notification Methods in Petra
Configure how your team receives alerts when incidents occur
Updating notification methods
Why Notification Methods Matter
Petra only sends notifications when actual incidents occur. If you don’t have Petra Response enabled for a tenant, you need to configure notification methods that will reach you immediately.
Petra’s notification system is deliberately quiet to avoid alert fatigue. Unlike tools that constantly ping you about routine activities, Petra only sends alerts for confirmed security incidents that require immediate attention.
If Petra Response is on, you will not need to perform any time-sensitive actions. However, if Petra Response is off, you will need to configure notification methods that will reach you immediately.
Available Notification Methods
You can receive incident alerts via:
- Email Notifications - Receive detailed incident reports via email
- SMS/Text Messages - Get instant text alerts with incident summaries
- Phone Calls - Automated calls for high-priority incidents
- Microsoft Teams - Notifications directly in your Teams channels
- PSA Integration - Automatic ticket creation in ConnectWise or Autotask
- Slack Webhook - Incident alerts in your Slack workspace
Viewing Your Current Configuration
You can quickly see your currently configured notification methods from the main dashboard:
Configuring Notification Methods
To update your notification settings:
- Navigate to Settings in the top navigation bar
- Select Notification Methods (this should be the default tab)
- Here you can configure all available notification options
The notification settings apply tenant-wide. If you manage multiple clients through Petra, you’ll need to switch tenants to configure each client’s notification preferences separately.
Email Configuration
Add as many email addresses as needed for your team. These can be individual addresses or distribution lists.
Phone/SMS Configuration (On-Call Sequence)
Phone notifications follow an on-call sequence:
- Add multiple phone numbers to create your escalation path
- Arrange them in order of priority
- When an incident occurs, Petra will attempt to reach each contact in sequence
PSA Integration
Petra currently supports automatic ticket creation in:
- ConnectWise
- Autotask
- (HaloPSA coming soon)
Microsoft Teams Integration
Teams notifications are often preferred for non-urgent communication about incidents that have already been remediated automatically. This provides an audit trail without requiring immediate action.
Teams notifications can include detailed remediation steps, such as password reset instructions, making them valuable for documentation purposes.
Slack Integration
Configure a Slack webhook to receive notifications in your security channels:
- Create a webhook in your Slack workspace
- Copy the webhook URL into Petra
- Select which types of incidents should trigger Slack notifications
Testing Your Notification Configuration
To verify all your notification methods work properly:
- Navigate to Settings > Notification Methods
- Click the Test Notification Methods button at the bottom of the page
- Petra will send a test notification through all configured channels
This test:
- Sends emails to all configured addresses
- Sends SMS messages to all configured phone numbers
- Places test calls to your on-call sequence
- Creates a test ticket in your PSA system
- Posts test messages to Teams and Slack