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Overview
There are times when you need to stop a compliance rule from triggering alerts without deleting it entirely. Planned maintenance, rule refinement, or seasonal monitoring needs are all common reasons to pause a rule temporarily.
Pausing a rule sets its status to Inactive. The rule retains its full configuration (settings, targets, sources) but stops generating alerts. You can reactivate a paused rule at any time to resume monitoring immediately.
This guide covers how to pause and activate rules from the Compliance Alerts dashboard.
Before You Begin
Before pausing or activating a rule, make sure you have:
- At least one compliance rule created for the selected organization
- Access to the Compliance Alerts dashboard
Step-by-Step Guide
Step 1: Pause a Rule
- Navigate to Compliance Alerts from the Safeguard main menu
- Click the Rules tab
- Find the rule you want to pause
- Click the ⋮ icon in the Actions column
- Click Pause
What you will see:
A success notification confirms the rule has been paused. The rule status in the table updates from Active to Inactive.
Step 2: Activate a Paused Rule
- Navigate to Compliance Alerts from the Safeguard main menu
- Click the Rules tab
- Find the paused rule you want to reactivate
- Click the ⋮ icon in the Actions column
- Click Activate
What you will see:
A success notification confirms the rule has been activated. The rule status in the table updates from Inactive to Active. The rule begins monitoring on the next snapshot cycle.
Important: The Actions menu only shows one option: Pause for active rules, or Activate for inactive rules. You will never see both options at the same time.
What Happens When a Rule Is Paused
Understanding the impact of pausing helps you decide when to use this feature:
- No new alerts are generated. Even if a matching configuration change occurs, the paused rule does not trigger an alert.
- Existing alerts are preserved. All alerts triggered before the rule was paused remain visible in the Alerts tab.
- The full configuration is retained. Settings, targets, and sources are unchanged. Nothing is lost when you pause a rule.
Best Practices
For maintenance windows:
- Pause rules before planned maintenance to avoid a flood of expected alerts
- Reactivate rules immediately after maintenance is complete
- Review the Alerts tab after reactivation to confirm monitoring is working as expected
For rule refinement:
- If you duplicated a rule to create an updated version, pause the original to avoid redundant alerts from both rules
- Once you confirm the new rule is performing correctly, delete the original
For seasonal monitoring:
- Pause rules that are only relevant during specific periods rather than deleting them
- Reactivate when the monitoring period begins again
Common Questions
Q: Does pausing a rule delete any alerts?
A: No. All existing alerts from the rule are preserved and remain visible in the Alerts tab regardless of the rule status.
Q: Will I miss changes while a rule is paused?
A: Yes. Any configuration changes that occur while a rule is paused are not retroactively flagged when the rule is reactivated. Monitoring resumes from the next snapshot cycle after activation.
Q: How quickly does a status change take effect?
A: The status change is effective immediately. Paused rules stop monitoring instantly, and activated rules begin monitoring on the next snapshot cycle.
Q: Is there a way to schedule a pause?
A: Scheduled pause and activate is not currently available. You need to pause and activate rules manually.
Next Steps
Now that you know how to pause and activate rules, you might want to:
- Delete a rule you no longer need
Permanently remove the rule and its associated alerts.
See Deleting a Compliance Rule. - Duplicate a rule before pausing it
Create an updated copy, then pause the original.
See Duplicating a Compliance Rule. - Review alerts from before the pause
Check the Alerts tab to investigate any alerts triggered while the rule was active.
See Navigating the Compliance Alerts Dashboard.
