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I am trying to use aws container service as per the documentation in http://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonECS/latest/developerguide/ECS_GetStarted.html

The below error is thrown when running the command: 

aws ecs list-container-instances --cluster default

You must specify a region. You can also configure your region by running "aws configure".

The documentation does not mention anything about specifying a default region. How do we do it in a console?

Putnik
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user859375
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7 Answers7

110

I think you need to use for example:

aws ecs list-container-instances --cluster default --region us-east-1

This depends of your region of course.

Peycho Dimitrov
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96

"You must specify a region" is a not an ECS specific error, it can happen with any AWS API/CLI/SDK command.

For the CLI, either set the AWS_DEFAULT_REGION environment variable. e.g.

export AWS_DEFAULT_REGION=us-east-1

or add it into the command (you will need this every time you use a region-specific command)

AWS_DEFAULT_REGION=us-east-1 aws ecs list-container-instances --cluster default

or set it in the CLI configuration file: ~/.aws/config

[default]
region=us-east-1

or pass/override it with the CLI call:

aws ecs list-container-instances --cluster default --region us-east-1

MikeW
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Jason
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    For all available variables, see : [AWS CLI Configuration Variables](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cli/latest/topic/config-vars.html) – Wingjam Jun 06 '18 at 17:21
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    I had a similar issue and I had `AWS_REGION` set correctly yet I was getting this error. Adding `AWS_DEFAULT_REGION` solved it. – iaforek Sep 23 '20 at 11:39
  • In my case I had logged in using `aws-azure-login` and subsequently when `aws ` also needed to supply both region *and* profile, e.g., `--region us-east-1 --profile my-login-profile`. Just wanted to mention in case someone else runs into the same. – Ben Jan 22 '21 at 18:37
  • Why do you need a region if you were to invoke a lambda running locally via for example serverless? – Jim Aho Sep 18 '21 at 18:58
34

#1- Run this to configure the region once and for all:

aws configure set region us-east-1 --profile admin

  • Change admin next to the profile if it's different.

  • Change us-east-1 if your region is different.

#2- Run your command again:

aws ecs list-container-instances --cluster default
Inanc Gumus
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    This, not running `aws configure` or editing `.aws/config`, was the only thing that worked for me – aeb0 May 24 '18 at 06:02
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    Information pollution is very dense in this https certificate management ecosystem between servers, authority, browser and client. It's a rube goldberg machine with actors everywhere throwing misinformational sand into the gears to throw you off. It's taking me days of research just to find a reliable information for how these things work, let alone simple and reliable instructions for setting up HTTPS. I guess this is what the future of computing looks like, google searches that no longer return reliable and true instructions for how to perform important actions. – Eric Leschinski Sep 21 '18 at 13:58
12

If you have configured all what is needed in .aws/config and .aws/credentials but still have this error - double-check names in square brackets.

It should be [profile myLovelyAccName] in config and [myLovelyAccName] in credentials.

Two points to note:

  • the word "profile" and one space after - in the config file only
  • no typos in the acc name!
Putnik
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7

Just to add to answers by Mr. Dimitrov and Jason, if you are using a specific profile and you have put your region setting there,then for all the requests you need to add

"--profile" option.

For example:

Lets say you have AWS Playground profile, and the ~/.aws/config has [profile playground] which further has something like,

[profile playground] region=us-east-1

then, use something like below

aws ecs list-container-instances --cluster default --profile playground

Radioactive
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3

I posted too soon however the ways to configure are given in below link

http://docs.aws.amazon.com/cli/latest/userguide/cli-chap-getting-started.html

and way to get access keys are given in below link

http://docs.aws.amazon.com/cli/latest/userguide/cli-chap-getting-set-up.html#cli-signup

user859375
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0

Note: You must have AWS CLI installed first.

Step 1: Open the terminal or command prompt on your computer.

Step 2: Run the following command to configure the default region:

aws configure set default.region <your_region>

Replace <your_region> with the appropriate region code, for example:

For US East (N. Virginia): us-east-1
For EU (Frankfurt): eu-central-1

enter image description here

Step 3: Verify the new default region by running the following command:

aws configure list

enter image description here

This command will display a list of your AWS CLI configurations, including the newly set default region.

By following these steps, you can configure a default region in the AWS CLI using the command line interface.

Fırat DİKMEN
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