---
title: "Creating a Trigger"
slug: "creating-a-trigger"
tags: ["5.5", "DataEngine"]
updated: 2026-10-27T23:00:54Z
published: 2026-10-27T23:00:54Z
canonical: "docs.vastdata.com/creating-a-trigger"
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.vastdata.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Creating a Trigger

DataEngine functions are triggered by events. Create triggers to define which events to watch for. A trigger can either produce events on a schedule or watch for events related to S3 objects or NFSv4 files in a view. You can build triggers into a pipeline and so that they trigger functions.

1. From the left navigation menu, select Manage Elements (![ManageElementsMenuIcon.png](https://cdn.us.document360.io/89b91113-5dc6-49db-86ec-57b16dc8ce56/Images/Documentation/img-b3d2ad07e044da6d7a37d19d29da0a16(9).png?sv=2026-02-06&spr=https&st=2026-11-08T09%3A05%3A28Z&se=2026-11-08T10%3A05%3A28Z&sr=c&sp=r&sig=5Oirpwk3dqtB5HFygOnU6FP3AFg5NdREhLIxcr5DC2E%3D)) and then Triggers.
2. Click Create New Trigger.
3. Enter a name for the trigger in the Trigger Name field.
4. In the Trigger Type dropdown, select the type of trigger you want to create:

  - Element. A trigger that watches for events related to elements in a source view.
  - Schedule. A trigger that produces events on a schedule.
5. Complete the relevant fields:

  - If you selected *Element* as the *Trigger Type*:

| Description | A description for the trigger. |
| --- | --- |
| Source Type | The type of elements that register events for the trigger: - S3. S3 objects. - NFS. NFSv4 files. |
| Source View | From the dropdown, select the view in which the events will occur. The dropdown lists all views configured correctly for the selected *Source Type* on the local VAST Cluster tenant to which you have permission to access. |
| Event Type | From the dropdown, select one or more types of events that the trigger should watch. - ElementCreated. The creation of an element in the source view. - ElementDeleted. The deletion of an element from the source view. - ElementTagCreated. The creation of a tag on an S3 object in the source view. > [!NOTE] > Note > > This type is supported only if *Source Type* is S3. - ElementTagDeleted. The deletion of a tag on an S3 object in the source view. > [!NOTE] > Note > > This type is supported only if *Source Type* is S3. > [!TIP] > Tip > > Under *Filters*, you can further specify which elements can trigger events. |
| Destination |
| Target Event Broker View | From the dropdown, select the view that hosts the VAST Event Broker to use to stream events for the trigger. |
| Topic | From the dropdown, select the event broker topic that should be used. |
| Filters |
| Element Name Filters | To filter elements by suffix or prefix, enter a prefix and/or a suffix. The event type definition will be restricted to elements with the specified prefix and/or suffix in their element names. If *Source Type* is *S3*, these filters apply to the object key. If *Source Type* is *NFS*, these filters apply to the file path. |
|  |
| Custom Extensions | Use this field to add key-value pairs to be passed as event output extensions. Each key can contain only lowercase letters and digits, must start with a letter, and must be 1-20 characters long. |
| Tags | Use this field to tag the trigger. To add a tag, click Add Tags, enter a key-value pair in the fields provided and then click Add to Tags. |
  - If you selected *Schedule* as the *Trigger Type*:

| Description | A description for the trigger. |
| --- | --- |
| Destination |
| Target Kafka View | From the dropdown, select the view that hosts the VAST Event Broker to use to stream events for the trigger. |
| Topic | From the dropdown, select the event broker topic that should be used. |
| Schedule | Do either of the following to define a schedule for the trigger: - Select Simple and use the fields provided to enter a frequency. - Select Advanced to type the schedule in Quartz syntax. |
| Custom Extensions | Use this field to add key-value pairs to be passed as event output extensions. Each key can contain only lowercase letters and digits, must start with a letter, and must be 1-20 characters long. |
| Tags | Optionally add tags to the trigger. To add a tag, click Add Tags, enter a key-value pair in the fields provided and then click Add to Tags. |
6. Click Create Trigger.

The trigger is created and is listed in the Triggers page.