Email Alerts

Email alerts let you send emails to specified recipients when an alert condition is met for a given dataset.

Setting Up an Email Server Using the WebApp

You can set up the SMTP server using the DQ web application.

Steps

  1. Login to the Collibra DQ instance and click the gear icon in the left navigation pane.

  2. Select Alerts.

  3. Update the following Alerts Configuration fields:

    Option Description
    SMTP Host The name or the IP address of the SMTP server.
    SMTP Port The port used by the SMTP server.
    SMTP Username The username or the account that is configured on the SMTP server for use.
    SMTP Password The password of the SMTP server username or account.
    (Default) To Email The sender email address.
    Reply Email The reply-to email address.
    Include Links Links to the specific instance(s)/page(s) where the alert came from in the DQ alert email.
  4. Click Save.

    Note If you select the Include Links option, links to the specific instance(s)/page(s) where the alert came from display in the DQ alert email. This allows you to quickly access the environment(s) from which the alert originated.

    Important Be aware that some email servers, such as Microsoft Exchange, require the SMTP username and Reply email fields to be the same.

    For more information about setting up an SMTP email server, go to Set up SMTP.

    When you receive a new user request, the request includes the username, tenant name, and link to the instance where the request came from, for quick access.

Note If the instance comes from a standalone environment, the port number displays in the URL. If it is from another environment, such as Kubernetes, the port number is not included in the URL. See the following screenshots.

Hostname for Standalone Environment

Hostname for Other Environment

Setting a Condition to Send an Alert

You can set specific conditions so that an email alert is sent to recipients when those conditions are met.

  1. Log in to the Collibra DQ instance.
  2. Click the Alerts icon in the left navigation pane. The Alerts page opens.
  3. Select Alert Definitions.
  4. Select a dataset from the Alert Builder searchbar.
  5. Enter an Alert Name, for example, score less than 75.
  6. Define a Condition.
    Condition TypeDescriptionExample
    Built-in

    Conditions that do not require any predefined rules to trigger alerts. To use built-in conditions, enter the condition, an operator, and a value.

    Available built-in conditions are:

    • score
    • row count
    score < 75
    Rules

    Conditions that are tied to datasets as predefined, saved rules. To use rule conditions, enter the rule upon which the alert condition is based.

    Rule conditions can be configured based on:

    Tip You can configure dataset-level stat rules as conditions without previously saving them to a dataset.

    Note Because rule validation does not occur in the Alert Builder, it is not recommended to use rules that are not already saved to a dataset.

    $rowCount > 1
  7. Optionally enter a Batch Name.
  8. Enter an Alert Recipient as a recipient of email alerts, for example, test.user@collibra.com.
  9. Optionally enter a Custom Message, for example, Alert when a score is less than 75.
  10. Click Save.

For more information on creating rules to use as rule conditions, go to Adding a Rule.

To use the batch name to create a consolidated list of alerts and distribution lists for a set of notifications per dataset, see Email Batch Alerts.

DQ Alerts for Datasets

You can set DQ alerts for datasets so that you are notified based on certain conditions that are triggered on the datasets. Below are some examples of what a dataset email looks like in your inbox.

Note Ensure that the SMTP server was set up properly and that your email client didn't mark the email as spam.

The following example shows a DQ alert email without links from the instance(s)/page(s).

example of an email alert for a scoring condition

The following example shows a DQ alert email with links from the instance(s)/page(s).

DQ Alerts for Failed Jobs

Another scenario is when the DQ Job fails to run or has an exception and, therefore, never gets the chance to score the data or run the alert condition. This is a failed alert that's automatically sent to the email address based on the Admin/SMTP settings defined in the To Email (Default) fields in the Admin console.

example of an alert message due to a failed job

Alert Notifications in Web UI

There are also alert notifications in the web UI. This can be helpful to confirm that the email alerts were sent out and who should have received the notifications.

a view of the alert notifications screen

Setting up the Email Server Programmatically

If you are in a notebook or pipeline, you may prefer to use the Scala/Spark API to create the Email Server.

Copy
    val emailServer = OwlUtils.createEmailServer("smtp-relay.sendinblue.com", 587)
    emailServer.setUsername("abc@owl-analytics.com")
    emailServer.setPassword("abc")
    emailServer.setCurrentSet(1)
    Util.EmailServerDaoFactory.delete(emailServer)
    Util.EmailServerDaoFactory.insert(emailServer)

Setting Up DQ Alerts for Jobs Stuck in Staged Status

Occasionally, jobs become stuck in Staged status after an attempted run. When you create a dataset in Explorer, you can set up alerts from the Config tab by entering an email address in the Email field before the first run of a newly created job.

setting an email alert for a dataset

When an email address is assigned to a dataset, an initial alert is sent 1 hour after a job becomes stuck in Staged. Additional alerts are sent every 24 hours a job remains in Staged, and these alerts persist until the job is no longer stuck. After resolution, previous runs of a job no longer in Staged are marked as Unknown.

Alerts for jobs stuck in Staged include:

  • The Job ID.
  • The name of the dataset.
  • The agent status.
  • A descriptive reason for why the job is stuck in staged and possible actions to take for remediation.

Note If multiple alerts are configured for a particular job, an alert is sent for each one that is configured.

Setting Up SMTP Alerts Without a Username or Password

Some alert settings are configurable without requiring a username or password when you set up an email server.

Steps

  1. Login to the Collibra DQ instance and click the gear icon in the left navigation pane.

  2. Click Settings.
    The Limit Settings page opens.
  3. Select App Config in the upper right and then select Add Custom.
  4. Enter a property in the name field and a value in the value field.
  5. Select Add.
Property Default Value Description
mail.smtp.auth True

When set to True, the server attempts to authenticate the user using the AUTH command.

When set to False, username and password authentication are turned off.

mail.smtp.starttls.enable True

When set to True and TLS is supported by the server, this enables the use of the STARTTLS command to switch the connection to a TLS-protected connection before issuing any login commands.

When TLS is not supported by your mail server, this property must be set to False.

Note These properties are preset to their default values. For example, mail.stmp.auth is preset to True.