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Troubleshooting Intermittent API Authentication Errors (401/403)

Angelo Bresci
Updated

Area: API Issues

Sub-Area: Authentication and Authorization

Issue

Users may experience intermittent 401 (Unauthorized) and 403 (Forbidden) errors when making API calls through the DataHub Python SDK, even with valid access tokens. The same code may work sometimes and fail other times, causing inconsistent behavior in production applications.

Error Messages

  • HTTPError: 401 Client Error: Unauthorized for url: https://<your-instance>.acryl.io/gms/aspects/...
  • HTTPError: 403 Client Error: Forbidden for url: https://<your-instance>.acryl.io/gms/aspects/...

You Might Be Asking

  • Why do my API calls work sometimes but fail with 401/403 errors other times?
  • Are there platform-wide API issues causing authentication problems?
  • How can I troubleshoot inconsistent authentication behavior?

Solution

  1. Update your DataHub CLI version to the latest version (1.5.0.8 or later): 
    pip install --upgrade acryl-datahub
  2. Verify token validity and permissions:
    • Ensure your access token is not expired
    • Confirm the token has appropriate permissions for the entities you're accessing
    • Test with both read-only and admin-level tokens to isolate permission issues
  3. Add proper error handling to your code: 
    from datahub.ingestion.graph.client import DataHubGraph, DatahubClientConfig
from datahub.metadata.urns import SchemaFieldUrn
import logging

logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)

access_token = "<your-token>"
client = DataHubGraph(DatahubClientConfig(
    server="https://<your-instance>.acryl.io/gms",
    token=access_token
))

col_urn_str = "urn:li:schemaField:(urn:li:dataset:(urn:li:dataPlatform:snowflake,test_db.test_schema.my_table,PROD),my_column)"
col_urn = SchemaFieldUrn.from_string(col_urn_str)

try:
    if not client.exists(col_urn.urn()):
        logger.warning(f"Column URN {col_urn} does not exist — skipping")
    else:
        print(f"Column URN {col_urn} exists — proceed with enrichment")
except Exception as e:
    logger.error(f"API call failed: {e}")
    # Implement retry logic or graceful failure handling
    raise
  4. Simplify complex URN lookup logic:
    • Column URNs are first-class entities and can be looked up directly
    • Avoid unnecessary parent dataset schema traversal unless specifically needed
  5. Check for entity-specific permission issues:
    • Test with URNs from different data platforms (e.g., Snowflake vs. Dremio)
    • Verify that your token has permissions on all required data sources
  6. If issues persist, contact DataHub Support with:
    • Specific timestamps when errors occurred
    • Complete error messages and stack traces
    • Sample URNs that are failing
    • Token scope and permissions information

Additional Notes

In DataHub Cloud environments, authentication and API gateway infrastructure are managed by Acryl. Intermittent authentication issues are typically caused by client-side factors such as outdated SDK versions, token expiration, or insufficient permissions rather than platform-wide outages. Always ensure you're using the latest DataHub Python SDK version for optimal compatibility and bug fixes.

Related Documentation

Tags: api, authentication, 401, 403, python-sdk, token, permissions, intermittent, troubleshooting, client

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