Start an Athena query - Amazon Step Functions
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Start an Athena query

This sample project, which is based on standard workflows, demonstrates how to use Step Functions and Amazon Athena to start an Athena query and send a notification with query results.

In this project, Step Functions uses Lambda functions and an Amazon Glue crawler to generate a set of example data. It then performs a query using the Athena service integration and returns the results using an SNS topic.

For more information about Athena and Step Functions service integrations, see the following:

Note

This sample project may incur charges.

For new Amazon users, a free usage tier is available. On this tier, services are free below a certain level of usage. For more information about Amazon costs and the Free Tier, see Athena Pricing.

Step 1: Create the state machine and provision resources

  1. Open the Step Functions console and choose Create state machine.

  2. Type Start an Athena query in the search box, and then choose Start an Athena query from the search results that are returned.

  3. Choose Next to continue.

  4. Step Functions lists the Amazon Web Services used in the sample project you selected. It also shows a workflow graph for the sample project. Deploy this project to your Amazon Web Services account or use it as a starting point for building your own projects. Based on how you want to proceed, choose Run a demo or Build on it.

    This sample project deploys the following resources:

    • An Amazon Athena query

    • An Amazon Glue crawler

    • An Amazon SNS topic

    • An Amazon Step Functions state machine

    • Related Amazon Identity and Access Management (IAM) roles

    The following image shows the workflow graph for the Start an Athena query sample project:

    
            Workflow graph of the Start an Athena query sample project.
  5. Choose Use template to continue with your selection.

  6. Do one of the following:

    • If you selected Build on it, Step Functions creates the workflow prototype for the sample project you selected. Step Functions doesn't deploy the resources listed in the workflow definition.

      In Workflow Studio's Design mode, drag and drop states from the States browser to continue building your workflow protoype. Or switch to the Code mode that provides an integrated code editor similar to VS Code for updating the Amazon States Language (ASL) definition of your state machine within the Step Functions console. For more information about using Workflow Studio to build your state machines, see Using Workflow Studio.

      Important

      Remember to update the placeholder Amazon Resource Name (ARN) for the resources used in the sample project before you run your workflow.

    • If you selected Run a demo, Step Functions creates a read-only sample project which uses an Amazon CloudFormation template to deploy the Amazon resources listed in that template to your Amazon Web Services account.

      Tip

      To view the state machine definition of the sample project, choose Code.

      When you're ready, choose Deploy and run to deploy the sample project and create the resources.

      It can take up to 10 minutes for these resources and related IAM permissions to be created. While your resources are being deployed, you can open the CloudFormation Stack ID link to see which resources are being provisioned.

      After all the resources in the sample project are created, you can see the new sample project listed on the State machines page.

      Important

      Standard charges may apply for each service used in the CloudFormation template.

Step 2: Run the state machine

  1. On the State machines page, choose your sample project.

  2. On the sample project page, choose Start execution.

  3. In the Start execution dialog box, do the following:

    1. (Optional) To identify your execution, you can specify a name for it in the Name box. By default, Step Functions generates a unique execution name automatically.

      Note

      Step Functions allows you to create names for state machines, executions, and activities, and labels that contain non-ASCII characters. These non-ASCII names don't work with Amazon CloudWatch. To ensure that you can track CloudWatch metrics, choose a name that uses only ASCII characters.

    2. (Optional) In the Input box, enter input values in JSON format to run your workflow.

      If you chose to Run a demo, you need not provide any execution input.

      Note

      If the demo project you deployed contains prepopulated execution input data, use that input to run the state machine.

    3. Choose Start execution.

    4. The Step Functions console directs you to a page that's titled with your execution ID. This page is known as the Execution Details page. On this page, you can review the execution results as the execution progresses or after it's complete.

      To review the execution results, choose individual states on the Graph view, and then choose the individual tabs on the Step details pane to view each state's details including input, output, and definition respectively. For details about the execution information you can view on the Execution Details page, see Execution Details page – Interface overview.

Example State Machine Code

The state machine in this sample project integrates with Athena and Amazon Lambda by passing parameters directly to those resources, and uses an SNS topic to return the results of the query.

Browse through this example state machine to see how Step Functions controls Lambda and Athena.

For more information about how Amazon Step Functions can control other Amazon services, see Using Amazon Step Functions with other services.

{ "StartAt": "Generate example log", "States": { "Generate example log": { "Resource": "arn:aws:lambda:us-east-1:111122223333:function:StepFunctionsSample-Athena-LambdaForDataGeneration-AKIAIOSFODNN7EXAMPLE", "Type": "Task", "Next": "Run Glue crawler" }, "Run Glue crawler": { "Resource": "arn:aws:lambda:us-east-1:111122223333:function:StepFunctionsSample-Athen-LambdaForInvokingCrawler-AKIAI44QH8DHBEXAMPLE", "Type": "Task", "Next": "Start an Athena query" }, "Start an Athena query": { "Resource": "arn:aws:states:::athena:startQueryExecution.sync", "Parameters": { "QueryString": "SELECT * FROM \"athena-sample-project-db-wJalrXUtnFEMI\".\"log\" limit 1", "WorkGroup": "stepfunctions-athena-sample-project-workgroup-wJalrXUtnFEMI" }, "Type": "Task", "Next": "Get query results" }, "Get query results": { "Resource": "arn:aws:states:::athena:getQueryResults", "Parameters": { "QueryExecutionId.$": "$.QueryExecution.QueryExecutionId" }, "Type": "Task", "Next": "Send query results" }, "Send query results": { "Resource": "arn:aws:states:::sns:publish", "Parameters": { "TopicArn": "arn:aws:sns:us-east-1:111122223333:StepFunctionsSample-AthenaDataQueryd1111-2222-3333-777788889999-SNSTopic-ANPAJ2UCCR6DPCEXAMPLE", "Message": { "Input.$": "$.ResultSet.Rows" } }, "Type": "Task", "End": true } } }

For information about how to configure IAM when using Step Functions with other Amazon services, see IAM Policies for integrated services.

IAM Example

These example Amazon Identity and Access Management (IAM) policies generated by the sample project include the least privilege necessary to execute the state machine and related resources. We recommend that you include only those permissions that are necessary in your IAM policies.

{ "Version": "2012-10-17", "Statement": [ { "Action": [ "lambda:InvokeFunction" ], "Resource": [ "arn:aws:lambda:us-east-1:111122223333:function:StepFunctionsSample-Athena-LambdaForDataGeneration-AKIAIOSFODNN7EXAMPLE", "arn:aws:lambda:us-east-1:111122223333:function:StepFunctionsSample-Athen-LambdaForInvokingCrawler-AKIAI44QH8DHBEXAMPLE" ], "Effect": "Allow" }, { "Action": [ "sns:Publish" ], "Resource": [ "arn:aws:sns:us-east-1:111122223333:StepFunctionsSample-AthenaDataQueryd1111-2222-3333-777788889999-SNSTopic-ANPAJ2UCCR6DPCEXAMPLE" ], "Effect": "Allow" }, { "Action": [ "athena:getQueryResults", "athena:startQueryExecution", "athena:stopQueryExecution", "athena:getQueryExecution", "athena:getDataCatalog" ], "Resource": [ "arn:aws:athena:us-east-1:111122223333:workgroup/stepfunctions-athena-sample-project-workgroup-wJalrXUtnFEMI", "arn:aws:athena:us-east-1:111122223333:datacatalog/*" ], "Effect": "Allow" }, { "Action": [ "s3:GetBucketLocation", "s3:GetObject", "s3:ListBucket", "s3:ListBucketMultipartUploads", "s3:ListMultipartUploadParts", "s3:AbortMultipartUpload", "s3:CreateBucket", "s3:PutObject" ], "Resource": "arn:aws:s3:::*", "Effect": "Allow" }, { "Action": [ "glue:CreateDatabase", "glue:GetDatabase", "glue:GetDatabases", "glue:UpdateDatabase", "glue:DeleteDatabase", "glue:CreateTable", "glue:UpdateTable", "glue:GetTable", "glue:GetTables", "glue:DeleteTable", "glue:BatchDeleteTable", "glue:BatchCreatePartition", "glue:CreatePartition", "glue:UpdatePartition", "glue:GetPartition", "glue:GetPartitions", "glue:BatchGetPartition", "glue:DeletePartition", "glue:BatchDeletePartition" ], "Resource": [ "arn:aws:glue:us-east-1:111122223333:database/*", "arn:aws:glue:us-east-1:111122223333:table/*", "arn:aws:glue:us-east-1:111122223333:catalog" ], "Effect": "Allow" } ] }

For information about how to configure IAM when using Step Functions with other Amazon services, see IAM Policies for integrated services.