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How to Set Up CloudWatch Alarms for AWS MediaConvert

Learn when to use CloudWatch metric alarms versus EventBridge job-state rules, how to configure queue monitoring, and how to test MediaConvert failure emails.
Length5 min Posted Quest giverVGSources Team
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Use a CloudWatch metric alarm to watch MediaConvert queue trends such as backlog, and use an EventBridge rule with Amazon SNS to email you when an individual job enters ERROR. These are different signals: metrics cross a threshold over time; events report a specific state change. A production workflow can use both.

Choose the signal that matches the problem

What you need to detect Use What it tells you
A queue building up or processing behavior changing CloudWatch metric alarm A metric has met your configured threshold over its evaluation period.
MediaConvert API or operation errors CloudWatch operation metric alarm Errors associated with API interactions, rather than a particular job’s state.
A particular job failing EventBridge rule targeting SNS A job-state event matches the rule, including status ERROR.
Completed-job output or workflow patterns CloudWatch job metrics Job-level measures, including output-duration measures.

MediaConvert metrics are grouped by operation, queue, and job. AWS specifically identifies StandbyTime as a metric that can help detect a large job-queue backlog. AWS does not prescribe a universal threshold: set one against your latency objective and the queue’s normal behavior. See Using CloudWatch with MediaConvert.

Create a CloudWatch metric alarm

1. Find the metric and confirm its scope

  1. Open the Amazon CloudWatch console and go to Metrics.
  2. Find the MediaConvert namespace and inspect its available metrics and dimensions. Choose the operation, queue, or job grouping that matches the question you are monitoring.
  3. Select the intended metric and dimension combination. Check that the selected queue or job scope represents the work you mean to measure; a different dimension combination can represent a different set of work.

Metric names and dimensions available to you depend on the metric and the data MediaConvert has published. AWS’s documentation describes the groupings but does not establish one universally correct statistic, period, or threshold for every metric and workload.

2. Configure the alarm for your service objective

  1. With the metric selected, choose to create an alarm.
  2. Choose a statistic and evaluation period appropriate to that metric’s publication behavior and your monitoring needs. MediaConvert metrics including Errors, JobErrorsByCode, and output-duration measures are sent to CloudWatch at the end of every job; consider that timing when choosing an evaluation period.
  3. Set the threshold and evaluation behavior using your service objective or measured baseline. For StandbyTime, for example, define what queue delay is unacceptable for your workload rather than treating an undocumented value as an AWS recommendation.
  4. Choose the alarm state or states that should trigger a response. If you need a notification, configure an action for the alarm state using the notification target available to your account.
  5. Name and create the alarm, then verify that it is monitoring the intended metric and dimension.

A metric alarm is useful for a sustained or threshold-based condition. It is not the most direct mechanism for notifying on each individual failed job; use an event rule for that.

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Email when an individual MediaConvert job fails

AWS documents an EventBridge rule that matches MediaConvert job state-change events whose status is ERROR, with an SNS topic as the target. The rule is separate from a CloudWatch metric alarm: it reacts to a discrete job event rather than waiting for a metric threshold.

1. Create an SNS topic and confirm the email subscription

  1. In the Amazon SNS console, create a standard topic.
  2. Create an email subscription to that topic using the recipient address that should receive failure notifications.
  3. Open the confirmation message delivered to that address and confirm the subscription. Until it is confirmed, that address will not receive topic notifications.

2. Create an EventBridge rule for ERROR events

  1. In the Amazon EventBridge console, create a rule in the AWS account and Region where the MediaConvert events are expected.
  2. Choose an event pattern and match the MediaConvert source, job state-change detail type, and ERROR status. The pattern is:
{
  "source": ["aws.mediaconvert"],
  "detail-type": ["MediaConvert Job State Change"],
  "detail": {
    "status": ["ERROR"]
  }
}
  1. Set the SNS topic as the rule’s target and create the rule. Ensure your account’s permissions allow EventBridge to invoke the selected target; the required permissions can vary by account configuration.

For the AWS procedure and context, see Monitoring MediaConvert with EventBridge and Amazon EventBridge targets.

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Test both paths independently

Test the failed-job email

AWS’s tutorial recommends submitting a job expected to fail—for example, one that refers to a missing input location—and checking that the subscribed email receives the notification. This verifies the EventBridge-to-SNS notification path, not the CloudWatch metric alarm.

Validate the metric alarm

Separately confirm the alarm’s selected metric, dimensions, threshold, evaluation settings, and notification action. Validate it using safe test conditions or representative metric data appropriate to your environment; a failed-job event alone does not prove that a metric alarm is configured correctly.

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Troubleshoot common setup problems

  • The queue alarm watches the wrong work: Reopen the metric and verify its dimensions and queue scope. Select the intended queue-level series rather than assuming every MediaConvert metric represents the same scope.
  • The backlog alarm is too sensitive or misses meaningful delays: Reassess the threshold against your team’s queue-latency objective and normal baseline. AWS does not provide a universal recommended StandbyTime threshold.
  • The alarm does not behave as expected: Check the selected statistic, period, evaluation behavior, and the metric’s publication timing. Job-related metrics are sent at the end of each job, so do not assume continuous per-second updates.
  • No failure email arrives: Confirm the SNS email subscription, including its confirmation; check that the rule is enabled and matches the event’s source, detail type, and ERROR status; then verify that the topic is the configured target and that the rule can invoke it.
  • A test job does not produce an ERROR event: Use a test deliberately expected to fail, such as the missing-input example in AWS’s tutorial, and inspect the resulting job state and event path.

Event delivery, metric availability, and target permissions depend on the AWS account and Region setup. The exact IAM policy required is not universal; grant and verify the permissions appropriate to your rule, target, and account.

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