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Assertion Email Notifications Not Working

Angelo Bresci
Updated

Area: Observability Issues

Sub-Area: Assertion Notifications

Issue

Users in an organization are not receiving email notifications for assertion failures or status changes, even when properly subscribed to datasets with assertions. This can affect the entire organization or specific users who should be getting assertion alerts.

You Might Be Asking

  • Why aren't assertion failure emails being sent to anyone in my organization?
  • How do I troubleshoot assertion notification delivery issues?
  • What causes users to stop receiving assertion emails after previously getting them?

Solution

  1. Verify User Notification Settings
    • Navigate to User Settings → Notifications in the DataHub UI
    • Find the "Assertion Status Change" section
    • Ensure the "Email" toggle is enabled
    • Verify the user's email address is correctly configured
  2. Check Subscription Status
    • Confirm users are subscribed to the datasets containing the assertions
    • Users must be either subscribed to assertion notifications OR listed as owners of the asset
    • Use the GraphQL API to verify subscription details if needed
  3. Review Email Provider Unsubscribe Status
    • Check if users have been added to the email provider's unsubscribe list (e.g., SendGrid)
    • Users may have clicked unsubscribe links in previous emails, blocking future notifications
    • Contact DataHub Support to remove users from unsubscribe lists if needed
  4. Verify Global Notification Configuration
    • Check that email integration is properly configured in global settings
    • Ensure assertion notifications are not globally disabled
    • Verify the DataHub integrations service has proper SMTP settings
  5. Test Email Delivery
    • Use the GraphQL API to check subscription details:
    query getEntitySubscriptionSummary {
  getEntitySubscriptionSummary(input: {
    entityUrn: "urn:li:dataset:(...)"
    numSubscribedUsers: 50
    numSubscribedGroups: 5
  }) {
    subscribedUsers {
      urn
      username
      properties {
        email
      }
    }
  }
}
  6. Monitor Backend Logs
    • Check for error messages in DataHub logs such as:
    "Assertion notification dropped: No recipients found"
"Failed to resolve email address for user"
"Assertion notification dropped: AssertionInfo not found"

Additional Notes

For DataHub Cloud customers, assertion notification infrastructure is managed by DataHub Support. If configuration appears correct but emails are still not being delivered, the issue may be related to backend services that require support intervention. Metadata tests do not currently send email notifications when failing, only assertions do. Users who previously received emails but suddenly stopped may have been automatically added to unsubscribe lists through email provider mechanisms.

Related Documentation

Tags: assertion, notifications, email, observability, subscriptions, unsubscribe, sendgrid, monitoring, alerts, troubleshooting

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