AWS

InternalError - Internal Error

Getting an **InternalError** means AWS encountered an internal service error—this is a server-side issue (5xx) that's usually temporary and resolves with retries. This server-side error happens when AWS services experience internal failures. Most common during temporary service issues, but also appears when backend processing errors occur, services are temporarily unavailable, internal system failures happen, or AWS infrastructure experiences problems.

#Common Causes

→Identity: IAM service internal error. Service Control Policy (SCP) service failure. Account-level service issues.
→Network: VPC endpoint service internal error. Regional service failures. Cross-region service issues.
→Limits: AWS service internal error. Temporary service issue. Backend processing error. Service temporarily unavailable. Internal system failure.

✓Solutions

1Step 1: Diagnose - Check AWS Service Health Dashboard: Visit https://status.aws.amazon.com/. Check specific service status. Review recent incidents. Check if issue is known.
2Step 2: Diagnose - Verify error is InternalError: Check error code is InternalError (5xx). Verify it's not a client error (4xx). Check if error is consistent or intermittent.
3Step 3: Diagnose - Check CloudWatch service metrics: aws cloudwatch get-metric-statistics --namespace AWS/SERVICE --metric-name ServiceErrors --start-time TIME --end-time TIME --period 300 --statistics Sum. Monitor service errors.
4Step 4: Fix - Implement exponential backoff: Retry with delays: 1s, 2s, 4s, 8s, 16s. Use AWS SDK automatic retries. Add jitter to prevent thundering herd. Max retries: 5-10 attempts.
5Step 5: Fix - Wait and retry or contact support: If temporary, wait a few minutes and retry. If persistent, contact AWS Support: aws support create-case --subject "InternalError" --service-code SERVICE_CODE --severity-code normal.

</>Code Examples

Retry with Exponential Backoff for InternalError

1#!/bin/bash
2# Function to retry AWS CLI commands with exponential backoff
3retry_with_backoff() {
4  local max_retries=5
5  local attempt=0
6  local delay=1
7  
8  while [ $attempt -lt ${max_retries} ]; do
9    if "$@"; then
10      return 0
11    fi
12    
13    local exit_code=$?
14    # Check if error is InternalError (5xx) or similar
15    if [ $exit_code -ne 0 ]; then
16      attempt=$((attempt + 1))
17      if [ $attempt -lt ${max_retries} ]; then
18        # Exponential backoff with jitter: 1s, 2s, 4s, 8s, 16s
19        delay=$((2 ** attempt + RANDOM % 1000 / 1000))
20        echo "Internal error, retrying in ${delay}s (attempt ${attempt}/${max_retries})..."
21        sleep ${delay}
22        continue
23      fi
24    fi
25    return $exit_code
26  done
27  
28  return 1
29}
30
31# Example usage
32echo "=== Retrying DynamoDB GetItem ==="
33retry_with_backoff aws dynamodb get-item \
34  --table-name MyTable \
35  --key '{"id":{"S":"123"}}' \
36  --output json

Check AWS Service Health Dashboard

1#!/bin/bash
2echo "=== AWS Service Health Dashboard ==="
3echo "Visit: https://status.aws.amazon.com/"
4echo "Or check programmatically via AWS Support API"
5
6# Check CloudWatch for service errors
7SERVICE="dynamodb"  # Replace with your service
8REGION="us-east-1"
9echo "\n=== Checking ${SERVICE} Service Errors ==="
10aws cloudwatch get-metric-statistics \
11  --namespace AWS/${SERVICE} \
12  --metric-name ServiceErrors \
13  --dimensions Name=ServiceName,Value=${SERVICE} \
14  --start-time $(date -u -d '1 hour ago' +%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S) \
15  --end-time $(date -u +%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S) \
16  --period 300 \
17  --statistics Sum \
18  --region ${REGION} \
19  --output table 2>&1 | head -10

Create AWS Support Case for Persistent InternalError

1#!/bin/bash
2# Create support case if InternalError persists
3echo "=== Creating AWS Support Case ==="
4echo "Subject: InternalError - Service experiencing internal errors"
5echo "Service: DynamoDB"  # Replace with your service
6echo "Severity: Normal"
7
8SERVICE_CODE="amazon-dynamodb"  # Replace with your service code
9
10aws support create-case \
11  --subject "InternalError - Service experiencing internal errors" \
12  --service-code ${SERVICE_CODE} \
13  --severity-code normal \
14  --category-code service-limit-increase \
15  --communication-body "Experiencing persistent InternalError (5xx) from service. Have retried with exponential backoff. Please investigate." \
16  --output json 2>&1 | head -10 || echo "Support API access may be limited - use AWS Console instead"
17
18echo "\n=== Alternative: Use AWS Console ==="
19echo "1. Go to AWS Support Center"
20echo "2. Create case > Technical support"
21echo "3. Select service and describe InternalError issue"

↗Related Errors

ServiceUnavailable Throttling

Provider Information

This error code is specific to AWS services. For more information, refer to the official AWS documentation.