Thresholds and Auto-Healing in Atera: Fixing Small Problems Before They Become Tickets

Most IT issues don’t start as incidents.
They start as small deviations that go unnoticed.

Disk space slowly fills up.
A service stops and doesn’t restart.
CPU usage stays high just long enough to cause complaints.

Thresholds and auto-healing in Atera exist to deal with these exact situations — not outages, not complex failures, but the repetitive, predictable problems that waste technician time.

What Thresholds Are in Atera (Plainly)

A threshold in Atera is simply a rule:

“If this condition happens, do something.”

The condition might be:

• CPU usage above X%
• Disk space below Y GB
• A service not running
• A specific Windows event appearing
• Antivirus becoming inactive

Thresholds don’t diagnose.
They don’t investigate.
They just watch.

How Thresholds Are Actually Used Day to Day

Most teams don’t create dozens of thresholds.
They create a small, stable set that covers:

• Performance degradation
• Storage exhaustion
• Security drift
• Critical services

Once configured, these thresholds quietly monitor every assigned device.

When nothing happens, nothing happens.
When a condition is breached, Atera reacts.

Alerts vs Auto-Healing: The Important Distinction

A threshold breach always creates an alert.

What happens next depends on configuration.

Without auto-healing:

• Alert is generated
• Ticket may be created
• Technician investigates

With auto-healing:

• Alert is generated
• A predefined script runs automatically
• Issue may be resolved before anyone looks at it

Auto-healing doesn’t replace alerts.
It acts immediately instead of waiting.

What Auto-Healing Scripts Can Actually Do

Auto-healing scripts in Atera are not special scripts.
They are regular scripts that you explicitly attach to a threshold.

Common examples:

• Clear temporary files when disk space drops
• Restart a stopped service
• Restart a stuck application
• Reset a failed component
• Clean up known problem folders

You can attach up to three scripts to a single threshold item, and they run sequentially.

Nothing runs unless:

• The threshold is breached
• The device is online
• The script is approved

Supported Platforms (Important for Planning)

Auto-healing scripts run on:

• Windows devices
• macOS devices

Linux devices can be monitored, but auto-healing via thresholds is limited.

This matters for MSPs managing mixed environments and for internal IT teams planning consistency.

Where AI Copilot Fits (Carefully)

AI Copilot does not automatically create thresholds.

What it can help with:

• Explaining why a threshold triggered
• Summarizing alerts
• Suggesting actions based on context

The threshold logic itself remains rule-based and predictable.

This is intentional.

Why Teams Trust Threshold-Based Auto-Healing

Because it’s deterministic.

You know:

• When it triggers
• What script runs
• What outcome to expect

There’s no guessing.

For MSPs, this reduces ticket volume.
For internal IT, this prevents “background noise” incidents.

Auto-Healing Is Not for Everything

Good teams don’t auto-heal complex issues.

They don’t auto-heal:

• Security breaches
• Data corruption
• Hardware failures
• Multi-system dependencies

Auto-healing is for:

• Known problems
• Known fixes
• Known outcomes

That’s where it works best.

Logging, Visibility, and Control

Every auto-healing action:

• Is logged
• Appears in device activity
• Can be reviewed later

Nothing is hidden.

If a script fails, it’s visible.
If it succeeds, it’s recorded.

This is critical for audits and reviews.

How MSPs Use Thresholds in Practice

MSPs typically use thresholds to:

• Reduce low-value tickets
• Protect SLA response times
• Standardize fixes across customers

They don’t advertise auto-healing to clients.
They use it quietly to keep environments stable.

How Internal IT Teams Use Thresholds

Internal IT teams use thresholds to:

• Prevent repeat complaints
• Stabilize older devices
• Reduce after-hours alerts

It’s about control, not automation for its own sake.

The Real Value of Thresholds and Auto-Healing

Thresholds don’t make IT smarter.
They make it quieter.

And quiet environments are easier to manage.

Reduce background noise without adding complexity → Schedule a 30-minute Atera thresholds session.

FAQs

How do thresholds work in Atera RMM?

In Atera RMM, thresholds are predefined monitoring rules that continuously watch specific device conditions such as CPU usage, disk space, service status, or security events. When a condition crosses the defined limit, Atera generates an alert and triggers any configured follow-up actions.

What is auto-healing in Atera, and how is it different from alerts?

Auto-healing in Atera uses scripts attached to threshold rules to automatically resolve known issues when a threshold is breached. Alerts notify technicians, while auto-healing attempts to fix the issue immediately without waiting for manual intervention.

What types of issues can Atera auto-healing scripts fix?

Atera auto-healing scripts are commonly used to address predictable, repeat issues such as clearing temporary files, restarting stopped services, resetting applications, or performing routine cleanup tasks. They are best suited for known problems with reliable fixes.

Does Atera AI Copilot automatically create or modify thresholds?

No. Threshold creation and configuration in Atera remain manual and rule-based. Atera AI Copilot can help explain alerts or summarize why a threshold triggered, but it does not automatically create, modify, or enforce threshold logic.

Which operating systems support auto-healing in Atera RMM?

Atera auto-healing scripts triggered by thresholds are supported on Windows and macOS devices. Linux devices can be monitored with thresholds, but automated remediation through threshold-based scripts is limited.

Are auto-healing actions logged for auditing and troubleshooting?

Yes. Every auto-healing action executed in Atera is logged in the device activity history. This includes script execution status, timestamps, and results, allowing teams to review what ran and verify outcomes during audits or incident reviews.

How do MSPs typically use thresholds and auto-healing in Atera?

MSPs use Atera thresholds and auto-healing to reduce repetitive tickets, stabilize client environments, and protect SLA response times. These automations are usually kept internal and focused on routine maintenance rather than complex incident handling.

Can auto-healing scripts in Atera cause unintended changes?

Only if they are poorly designed. Atera requires scripts to be explicitly approved and attached to thresholds by administrators. Because execution is deterministic and logged, teams retain full control and visibility over what actions run and when.