Automatically pausing email sending for a configuration set - Amazon Simple Email Service

Automatically pausing email sending for a configuration set

You can configure Amazon SES to export reputation metrics that are specific to emails that are sent using a specific configuration set to Amazon CloudWatch. You can then use these metrics to create CloudWatch alarms that are specific to these configuration sets. When these alarms exceed certain thresholds, you can automatically pause the sending of emails that use the specified configuration sets, without impacting the overall email sending capabilities of your Amazon SES account.

Note

The solution described in this section pauses email sending for a specific configuration set in a single AWS Region. If you send email from multiple regions, repeat the procedures in this section for each region in which you want to implement this solution.

Part 1: Enable Reputation Metric Reporting for the Configuration Set

Before you can configure Amazon SES to automatically pause email sending for a configuration set, you must first enable the export of reputation metrics for the configuration set.

To enable the export of bounce and complaint metrics for the configuration set, complete the steps in Viewing and exporting reputation metrics.

Part 2: Create an IAM Role

The first step in configuring automatic pausing of email sending is to create an IAM role that can execute the UpdateConfigurationSetSendingEnabled API operation.

To create the IAM role
  1. Open the IAM console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/iam/.

  2. In the navigation pane, choose Roles.

  3. Choose Create role.

  4. Under Select type of trusted entity, choose AWS service.

  5. Under Choose the service that will use this role, choose Lambda. Choose Next: Permissions.

  6. On the Attach permissions policies page, choose the following policies:

    • AWS LambdaBasicExecutionRole

    • AmazonSESFullAccess

    Tip

    Use the search box at the top of the list of policies to quickly locate these policies.

    Choose Next: Review.

  7. On the Review page, for Name, type a name for the role. Choose Create role.

Part 3: Create the Lambda Function

After you create an IAM role, you can create the Lambda function that pauses email sending for the configuration set.

To create the Lambda function
  1. Open the AWS Lambda console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/lambda/.

  2. Use the region selector to choose the region in which you want to deploy this Lambda function.

    Note

    This function only pauses email sending for configuration sets in the AWS Region you select in this step. If you send email from more than one region, repeat the procedures in this section for each region in which you want to automatically pause email sending.

  3. Choose Create function.

  4. Under Create function, choose Author from scratch.

  5. Under Author from scratch, complete the following steps:

    • For Name, type a name for the Lambda function.

    • For Runtime, choose Node.js 14x (or the version currently offered in the select list).

    • For Role, choose Choose an existing role.

    • For Existing role, choose the IAM role you created in Part 2: Create an IAM Role.

    Choose Create function.

  6. Under Function code, in the code editor, paste the following code:

    'use strict'; var aws = require('aws-sdk'); // Create a new SES object. var ses = new aws.SES(); // Specify the parameters for this operation. In this example, you pass the // Enabled parameter, with a value of false (Enabled = false disables email // sending, Enabled = true enables it). You also pass the ConfigurationSetName // parameter, with a value equal to the name of the configuration set for // which you want to pause email sending. var params = { ConfigurationSetName: ConfigSet, Enabled: false }; exports.handler = (event, context, callback) => { // Pause sending for a configuration set ses.updateConfigurationSetSendingEnabled(params, function(err, data) { if(err) { console.log(err.message); } else { console.log(data); } }); };

    Replace ConfigSet in the preceding code with the name of the configuration set. Choose Save.

  7. Choose Test. If the Configure test event window appears, type a name in the Event name field, and then choose Create.

  8. Ensure that the notification bar at the top of the page says Execution result: succeeded. If the function failed to execute, do the following:

    • Verify that the IAM role you created in Part 2: Create an IAM Role contains the correct policies.

    • Verify that the code in the Lambda function does not contain any errors. The Lambda code editor automatically highlights syntax errors and other potential issues.

Part 4: Re-Enable Email Sending for the Configuration Set

A side effect of testing the Lambda function in Part 3: Create the Lambda Function is that email sending for the configuration set is paused. In most cases, you do not want to pause sending for the configuration set until the CloudWatch alarm is triggered.

The procedures in this section re-enable email sending for your configuration set. To complete these procedures, you must install and configure the AWS Command Line Interface. For more information, see the AWS Command Line Interface User Guide.

To re-enable email sending
  1. At the command line, type the following command to re-enable email sending for the configuration set:

    aws ses update-configuration-set-sending-enabled \ --configuration-set-name ConfigSet \ --enabled

    In the preceding command, replace ConfigSet with the name of the configuration set for which you want to pause email sending.

  2. At the command line, type the following command to ensure that email sending is enabled:

    aws ses describe-configuration-set \ --configuration-set-name ConfigSet \ --configuration-set-attribute-names reputationOptions

    The command produces output that resembles the following example:

    { "ConfigurationSet": { "Name": "ConfigSet" }, "ReputationOptions": { "ReputationMetricsEnabled": true, "SendingEnabled": true } }

    If the value of SendingEnabled is true, then email sending for the configuration set was successfully re-enabled.

Part 5: Create an Amazon SNS Topic

For CloudWatch to execute the Lambda function when an alarm is triggered, you must first create an Amazon SNS topic and subscribe the Lambda function to it.

To create the Amazon SNS topic
  1. Open the Amazon SNS console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/sns/v3/home.

  2. Use the region selector to choose the region in which you want to automatically pause email sending.

  3. In the navigation pane, choose Topics.

  4. Choose Create new topic.

  5. On the Create new topic window, for Topic name, type a name for the topic. Optionally, you can type a more descriptive name in the Display name field.

    Choose Create topic.

  6. In the list of topics, check the box next to the topic you created in the previous step. On the Actions menu, choose Subscribe to topic.

  7. On the Create subscription window, make the following selections:

  8. Choose Create subscription.

Part 6: Create a CloudWatch Alarm

This section contains procedures for creating an alarm in CloudWatch that is triggered when a metric reaches a certain threshold. When the alarm is triggered, it delivers a notification to the Amazon SNS topic you created in Part 5: Create an Amazon SNS Topic, which then executes the Lambda function you created in Part 3: Create the Lambda Function.

To create a CloudWatch alarm
  1. Open the CloudWatch console at https://console.aws.amazon.com/cloudwatch/.

  2. Use the region selector to choose the region in which you want to automatically pause email sending.

  3. In the navigation pane on the left, choose Alarms.

  4. Choose Create Alarm.

  5. On the Create Alarm window, under SES Metrics, choose Configuration Set Metrics.

  6. In the ses:configuration-set column, locate the configuration set for which you want to create an alarm. Under Metric Name, choose one of the following options:

    • Reputation.BounceRate – Choose this metric if you want to pause email sending for the configuration set when the overall hard bounce rate for the configuration set crosses a threshold that you define.

    • Reputation.ComplaintRate – Choose this metric if you want to pause email sending for the configuration set when the overall complaint rate for the configuration set crosses a threshold that you define.

    Choose Next.

  7. Complete the following steps:

    • Under Alarm Threshold, for Name, type a name for the alarm.

    • Under Whenever: Reputation.BounceRate or Whenever: Reputation.ComplaintRate, specify the threshold that causes the alarm to trigger.

      Note

      If the overall bounce rate for your Amazon SES account exceeds 10%, or if the overall complaint rate for your Amazon SES account exceeds .5%, your Amazon SES account is automatically placed under review. When you specify the bounce or complaint rate that causes the CloudWatch alarm to trigger, we recommend that you use values that are far below these rates to prevent your account from being placed under review.

    • Under Actions, for Whenever this alarm, choose State is ALARM. For Send notification to, choose the Amazon SNS topic you created in Part 5: Create an Amazon SNS Topic.

    Choose Create Alarm.

Part 7: Test the solution

You can now test the alarm to ensure that it executes the Lambda function when it enters the ALARM state. You can use the SetAlarmState operation in the CloudWatch API to temporarily change the state of the alarm.

The procedures in this section are optional, but we recommend that you complete them to verify that the entire solution is configured correctly.

To test the solution
  1. At the command line, type the following command to check the email sending status for the configuration set:

    aws ses describe-configuration-set --configuration-set-name ConfigSet

    If sending is enabled for the configuration set, you see the following output:

    { "ConfigurationSet": { "Name": "ConfigSet" }, "ReputationOptions": { "ReputationMetricsEnabled": true, "SendingEnabled": true } }

    If the value of SendingEnabled is true, then email sending is currently enabled for the configuration set.

  2. At the command line, type the following command to temporarily change the alarm state to ALARM:

    aws cloudwatch set-alarm-state \ --alarm-name MyAlarm \ --state-value ALARM \ --state-reason "Testing execution of Lambda function"

    Replace MyAlarm in the preceding command with the name of the alarm you created in Part 6: Create a CloudWatch Alarm.

    Note

    When you execute this command, the status of the alarm switches from OK to ALARM and back to OK within a few seconds. You can view these status changes on the alarm's History tab in the CloudWatch console, or by using the DescribeAlarmHistory operation.

  3. At the command line, type the following command to check the email sending status for the configuration set:

    aws ses describe-configuration-set \ --configuration-set-name ConfigSet

    If the Lambda function executed successfully, you see output that resembles the following example:

    { "ConfigurationSet": { "Name": "ConfigSet" }, "ReputationOptions": { "ReputationMetricsEnabled": true, "SendingEnabled": false } }

    If the value of SendingEnabled is false, then email sending for the configuration set is disabled, indicating that the Lambda function executed successfully.

  4. Complete the steps in Part 4: Re-Enable Email Sending for the Configuration Set to re-enable email sending for the configuration set.