---
# How to setup Snowflake backup confirmation and alert notifications
**URL:** https://www.sigmoid.com/blogs/how-to-setup-snowflake-backup-confirmation-and-alert-notifications/
Date: 2022-06-15
Author: Sigmoid
Post Type: post
Summary: Data backups are key to ensuring business continuity. However, it is important to track if the backups are successful with a notification...Read More...
Categories: Cloud Transformation
Tags: Data Management
Featured Image: https://www.sigmoid.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/How-to-setup-Snowflake-backup-confirmation-and-alert-notifications-banner-opt.jpg
---
Data backups are key to ensuring business continuity. However, it is important to track if the backups are successful with a notification system without incurring any significant additional costs.
Due to the lack of sufficient [Snowflake](/ebooks-whitepapers/snowflake-implementation/) documentation on backup alerting, this blog discusses how to set up alerts to monitor backup task in Snowflake. We will cover setting up AWS Services such as: SNS, Lambda and EventBridge to monitor backup task in Snowflake. Here are the steps for implementing monitoring and alerting for a Snowflake backup task.
- Step 1: Setting Up AWS SNS Topic
- Step 2: Setting up AWS Lambda Function
- Step 3: Setting up AWS EventBridge Rule
## Prerequisites
Consider an existing scheduled backup task in Snowflake, scheduled with cron expression. You can have a backup task that calls a stored procedure, a set of sql statements. Then this stored procedure backs up tables of snowflakes in S3 path through S3 stage. Let’s consider we have a backup task called backup_task that is scheduled to run at 4:00 p.m daily. This backup_task then calls a procedure called snowflake_database that backs up tables called sample1_table and sample2_table in S3 path through a S3 stage called my_s3_stage.
Below is an example of how a backup task can look like:
Example of Backup Task
By default snowflake tasks are created in suspended mode. You have to start them using the following command:
Backup confirmation/failed alerts are crucial to be aware that our data is being backed up on a timely basis. Let’s assume that backup task in snowflake is scheduled at 4:00 PM daily, we will schedule **AWS EventBridge** to run daily at 4:01 PM using a cron job and trigger a **Lambda Function** that access the snowflake database and checks if that backup task has executed successfully or not. If the backup task has executed successfully we will receive a backup confirmation notification, if not then a backup failed notification will be received so that an action can be taken as early as possible.
Fig 1. Flow of Backup Success or Failed Alert Mechanism
### Step 1: Setting up AWS SNS topic:
Make sure to have **AWS SNS Topic** with confirmed subscription in place.
Now edit the **Access Policy** of SNS Topic with following permissions:
**NOTE:** Replace with the **Region** that this notification is for. Replace with your **account ID**. Replace with the **SNS topic name**.
Access Policy for SNS Topic
### Step 2: Setting up AWS Lambda function:
Prerequisites:
- **AWS IAM Role** for Lambda function with **LambdaBasicExecution** Policy and **SNS: Publish** permission attached.
- Import **Snowflake connector module** by creating a custom **Lambda Layer**.
Steps:
- Create a Lambda function with Python 3.8 Runtime.
- Choose **IAM Role** created for lambda function.
- Add permission for **Lambda function** to be invoked from **AWS EventBridge Rule**. Go to configuration tab in Lambda function, select permissions tab, scroll down to **Resource-based policy**, click add permissions. Now add permissions like in the image below.
**Note:** Replace source account with your AWS Account ID. In Source ARN add your EventBridge Rule ARN.
Fig 2. Resource Based Policy for Lambda Function
- Add **Snowflake username, password, account and database** by going to** Configuration > Environment Variables.**
- Add the following code in **Lambda Function**.
The following **Lambda function** accesses the snowflake database with the credentials provided. In statement_3, we are checking if the backup_task has failed with an error with task_history. This table function can be used to query the history of task usage within a specified date range. The function returns the history of task usage for your entire Snowflake account or a specified task. [Learn more](https://docs.snowflake.com/en/sql-reference/functions/task_history.html).
Then we are fetching the output from statement_3 and counting if row fetched is 1. As we are only fetching only 1 row from query in statement_3 result_limit => 1 that means history of last executed backup_task is fetched making sure it has executed with error, ERROR_ONLY => true.
Then, rowCount is storing the number of rows fetched and if rowCount > 0, Backup failed **SNS notification** is sent through the **SNS Topic ARN** specified. Moreover, we are also storing the output of statement_3 as stored in the rows variable and storing the error_message column in the res variable to include that in the email alert body.
If rowCount equals to 0 then backup confirmation **SNS notification** is sent through the **SNS Topic ARN** specified.
Lambda Function Python Code
### Step 3: Setting up AWS EventBridge rule:
- Go to the **Amazon EventBridge** console [https://console.aws.amazon.com/events/](https://signin.aws.amazon.com/signin?redirect_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fap-northeast-1.console.aws.amazon.com%2Fevents%3FhashArgs%3D%2523%26isauthcode%3Dtrue%26region%3Dap-northeast-1%26state%3DhashArgsFromTB_ap-northeast-1_349c605b47913254&client_id=arn%3Aaws%3Asignin%3A%3A%3Aconsole%2Fevents&forceMobileApp=0&code_challenge=DZufTd0MkleJ2rmLnzByqs-mMogOwI3_dbKEZ_O2-fg&code_challenge_method=SHA-256).
- Go to the navigation pane and choose **Rules**.
- Click **Create rule**.
Enter a name and description for the rule.
A rule can’t have the same name as another rule in the same Region and on the same event bus.
- For the Event **bus**, choose default.
- For **Rule type**, choose **Schedule**
- Click **Next**.
- For **Schedule Pattern**, **choose A fine-grained schedule that runs at a specific time, such as 8:00 a.m. PST on the first Monday of every month**.
- Enter Cron expression: For ex: 31 10 * * ? *
- Click **Next**.
- For **Target types**, choose **AWS service**.
- For **Select a target, choose Lambda Function**.
- Select **Lambda Function** as configured earlier.
- Click **Next**.
- (Optional) Enter one or more tags for the rule.
- Click **Next**.
- Review the details of the rule and click **Create rule**.
Following is the example of how Backup Confirmation/Failed alert is received
Fig 3. Example of Backup Confirmation Notification
Fig 4. Example of Backup Failed Alert
## About the author
Prajna Bahuguna is a [DevOps Engineer](/data-devops/) at Sigmoid. She is a DevOps enthusiast who is always curious to learn about innovative solutions using Cloud, Python and Devops practices. In her leisure time she enjoys doing artwork and mobile photography.
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