Real-time error notification for failed Glue jobs

AWS Glue is a powerful serverless ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) service designed to simplify big data processing and integration. However, in production workflows, job failures can cause critical delays or data inconsistencies. To maintain data reliability and quickly respond to issues, real-time error notifications for failed Glue jobs are essential.

This blog explains how to set up real-time error alerts for failed AWS Glue jobs using Amazon CloudWatch, Amazon SNS (Simple Notification Service), and optionally AWS Lambda for more customized handling.


Why Real-time Notifications Matter

When an AWS Glue job fails, it might be due to issues like schema changes, invalid input data, network errors, or permission problems. Detecting and resolving these failures quickly is critical for:

  • Ensuring data pipelines remain reliable
  • Avoiding downstream process failures
  • Minimizing manual monitoring
  • Enabling DevOps and data teams to respond quickly

Instead of relying on periodic checks or manual log reviews, you can automate failure detection and alerts.


Step-by-Step Setup for Real-Time Notifications

1. Enable CloudWatch Logging in Glue

AWS Glue integrates with CloudWatch by default. Ensure your Glue jobs are configured to send logs to CloudWatch:

  • Open the Glue Console
  • Select your job > Edit
  • Scroll to Monitoring options and ensure Job metrics and Continuous logging are enabled

This ensures job statuses (e.g., SUCCEEDED, FAILED) are recorded in CloudWatch.


2. Create a CloudWatch Alarm for Job Failures

To get notified on job failure, you can create a CloudWatch rule:

Go to the Amazon CloudWatch Console

Select Rules > Create Rule

Under Event Source:

Service Name: Glue

Event Type: Glue Job State Change

Add an event pattern like:

json

Copy

Edit

{

  "source": ["aws.glue"],

  "detail-type": ["Glue Job State Change"],

  "detail": {

    "state": ["FAILED"]

  }

}

This event pattern will match any Glue job that fails.


3. Create an SNS Topic for Notifications

Next, set up an SNS topic to send email or SMS alerts.

  • Go to Amazon SNS Console
  • Create a new topic (e.g., glue-job-failures)
  • Add subscriptions (email, SMS, Lambda, etc.)
  • Confirm the subscription from your email inbox


4. Link CloudWatch Rule to SNS Topic

In the CloudWatch rule, under Targets, select SNS topic and choose the one you created (glue-job-failures).

Click Create Rule to save and activate it.

Optional: Custom Alerts with AWS Lambda

If you want more advanced notifications (e.g., include job name, error logs, or retry logic), you can:

Create a Lambda function

Parse the CloudWatch event

Extract relevant details (job name, error message)

Send a formatted message to email, Slack, Teams, etc.

Link this Lambda function as a target in your CloudWatch rule instead of SNS or in addition to it.

Sample Lambda Code (Python)

python

Copy

Edit

import json


def lambda_handler(event, context):

    job_name = event['detail']['jobName']

    state = event['detail']['state']

    print(f"Glue Job '{job_name}' failed. Status: {state}")

You can enhance this to query CloudWatch logs or trigger recovery actions.


Conclusion

Setting up real-time error notifications for AWS Glue jobs is crucial for maintaining healthy, production-grade ETL pipelines. By leveraging CloudWatch Events, SNS, and optionally Lambda, you can detect failures as soon as they happen and alert your team instantly. This proactive monitoring approach reduces downtime, improves response times, and helps maintain data integrity across your workflows.


Don't wait for someone to discover a broken pipeline—let your system tell you the moment something goes wrong.

Learn AWS Data Engineer with Data Analytics
Read More: Integrating third-party data APIs with AWS Lambda


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