CanaryAlertEarly Access
OverviewGetting StartedEmail ForwardingHTTP PingClassification RulesIntegrationsMaintenance WindowsSource GroupsReportsDigest Notifications

Email Forwarding Setup

Each source in CanaryAlert has a unique inbound email address. Set up forwarding so your notification emails automatically arrive at that address.

Microsoft Outlook / Exchange

Create an Outlook rule to forward specific emails to your CanaryAlert source address.

  1. 1. Open Outlook and go to Rules > Manage Rules & Alerts
  2. 2. Click "New Rule" and select "Apply rule on messages I receive"
  3. 3. Set conditions to match your notification emails (e.g., from a specific sender, or with specific words in the subject)
  4. 4. Select "forward it to people or public group"
  5. 5. Enter your CanaryAlert source address (e.g., abc123@mail.canaryalert.io)
  6. 6. Click Finish and ensure the rule is enabled
Tip: For Exchange/Microsoft 365, you can also use mail flow rules (transport rules) in the Exchange admin center for organization-wide forwarding.

Gmail / Google Workspace

Use Gmail filters to automatically forward matching emails.

  1. 1. Open Gmail and go to Settings > See all settings > Forwarding and POP/IMAP
  2. 2. Click "Add a forwarding address" and enter your CanaryAlert source address
  3. 3. Gmail will send a verification email — check your CanaryAlert dashboard for the confirmation code, or temporarily forward the verification manually
  4. 4. Once verified, go to Settings > Filters and Blocked Addresses
  5. 5. Click "Create a new filter" and set criteria to match your notification emails
  6. 6. Select "Forward it to" and choose your CanaryAlert address

Backup Software (Direct)

Many backup tools let you configure multiple notification recipients directly.

Veeam Backup & Replication

  1. 1. Go to Options > Notifications > Email
  2. 2. In the "To" field, add your CanaryAlert source address as an additional recipient (separate with semicolon)
  3. 3. Ensure "Notify on success" and "Notify on failure" are both enabled

SQL Server Agent Jobs

  1. 1. Open SQL Server Management Studio
  2. 2. Right-click your job > Properties > Notifications
  3. 3. Check "E-mail" and select/create an operator with your CanaryAlert address
  4. 4. Set to notify "When the job completes" to capture both success and failure

Linux Cron Jobs

Pipe cron output to mail or sendmail:

# Add to crontab:

0 2 * * * /opt/backup/run.sh 2>&1 | mail -s "Backup Report" abc123@mail.canaryalert.io

Best practices

  • Forward both success and failure emails — This enables the dead man's switch. If CanaryAlert only gets failure emails, it can't detect when emails stop arriving.
  • Use CC instead of forwarding when possible — This preserves the original sender address and email format, which helps AI classification accuracy.
  • Test before going live — Use the Test Classification feature to paste a sample email and verify your rules work before relying on them.

Next guide

HTTP Ping