Know when a device goes offline
Learn how Offision detects device disconnections, evaluates silence thresholds, and notifies administrators via automated offline and recovery email alerts.
When a wall-mounted panel loses its network connection or power, it does not immediately turn blank. It continues to display the last received screen state, making a silent outage invisible from the hallway.
Instead of waiting for an employee to report a frozen screen, Offision monitors persistent WebSocket heartbeats and dispatches automated email alerts when a device exceeds your defined tolerance threshold.
How Offision detects an offline state
A device is considered online as long as its persistent network connection to the server remains open:
- Immediate network drop: When power is cut or an Ethernet cable is unplugged, the connection terminates abruptly.
- Heartbeat silence: If a connection remains open but the device stops reporting health telemetry for 60 consecutive minutes, Offision marks it offline.
Why alerts wait for an offline threshold
Transient Wi-Fi drops, DHCP renewals, and brief switch reboots happen routinely in enterprise environments. Dispatching alerts on every momentary disconnect creates notification fatigue.
The Offline threshold setting establishes a mandatory silence buffer:
- An alert is sent only after the device has remained continuously unreachable for the configured duration (typically 5 to 15 minutes).
- If the device reconnects before the threshold expires, the timer resets and no email is sent.
Alert workflow: Disconnection and recovery
Offision delivers two distinct notifications per outage event:
1. Device offline alert
When an unreachable device crosses the offline threshold, an email lists the affected devices and their locations. If multiple screens sharing the same profile disconnect simultaneously (such as during a local network switch failure), they are consolidated into a single email.
Automated Device offline email identifying unreachable room panels.
2. Device resume normal notification
As soon as an offline device reconnects and re-establishes its socket, a recovery email is sent immediately with no delay period. Once delivered, monitoring is re-armed for future incidents.
Device resume normal notice confirming the device has successfully reconnected.
Scope and limitations
- Hardware alerts only: Notifications are sent via email to designated users and groups; no warning flags or alert banners appear on the physical panel screen.
- Paired devices only: Unpaired device placeholder records in the console do not trigger offline notifications.
- Telemetric health warnings: Minor issues (such as high CPU temperatures, low storage, or weak Wi-Fi signal) do not trigger offline emails while the device remains connected. These can be inspected live on Screen monitoring.