AWS

InvalidBucketName - Invalid Bucket Name

Hitting an **InvalidBucketName** error means your S3 bucket name violates AWS naming rules—bucket names must be 3-63 characters, lowercase, alphanumeric with hyphens, and globally unique. This client-side error (4xx) happens when AWS validates bucket name format. Most common when bucket names have uppercase letters or invalid characters, but also appears when names are too short/long, names look like IP addresses, names have consecutive dots, or reserved names are used.

#Common Causes

  • Identity: IAM policy bucket name restrictions. Service Control Policy (SCP) blocks certain bucket name patterns.
  • Network: VPC endpoint bucket name validation. Cross-account bucket naming conflicts.
  • Limits: Bucket name too short (< 3 chars) or too long (> 63 chars). Invalid characters (uppercase, underscores, special chars). Name looks like IP address (e.g., 192.168.1.1). Consecutive dots (..). Starts/ends with dot or hyphen. Reserved AWS names.

Solutions

  1. 1Step 1: Diagnose - Check exact error message: AWS specifies which naming rule was violated. Review bucket name for invalid characters. Check length.
  2. 2Step 2: Diagnose - Validate bucket name format: Name must be 3-63 chars, lowercase, alphanumeric/hyphens only. Check: echo BUCKET_NAME | grep -E '^[a-z0-9][a-z0-9-]*[a-z0-9]$'.
  3. 3Step 3: Diagnose - Check for common issues: No uppercase letters. No underscores. No consecutive dots. Doesn't start/end with dot or hyphen. Not an IP address format.
  4. 4Step 4: Fix - Generate valid bucket name: BUCKET_NAME="my-app-$(date +%s)". Ensure lowercase: BUCKET_NAME=$(echo ${BUCKET_NAME} | tr '[:upper:]' '[:lower:]'). Validate length: [ ${#BUCKET_NAME} -ge 3 ] && [ ${#BUCKET_NAME} -le 63 ].
  5. 5Step 5: Fix - Create bucket with valid name: aws s3api create-bucket --bucket ${BUCKET_NAME} --region us-east-1. For other regions: aws s3api create-bucket --bucket ${BUCKET_NAME} --region REGION --create-bucket-configuration LocationConstraint=REGION.

</>Code Examples

Validate S3 Bucket Name Format
1#!/bin/bash
2BUCKET_NAME="my-bucket-name"
3
4echo "=== Validating Bucket Name: ${BUCKET_NAME} ==="
5
6# Check length (3-63 characters)
7if [ ${#BUCKET_NAME} -lt 3 ] || [ ${#BUCKET_NAME} -gt 63 ]; then
8  echo "✗ Invalid length: must be 3-63 characters (current: ${#BUCKET_NAME})"
9  exit 1
10else
11  echo "✓ Length valid: ${#BUCKET_NAME} characters"
12fi
13
14# Check for lowercase and valid characters
15if [[ ${BUCKET_NAME} =~ ^[a-z0-9][a-z0-9.-]*[a-z0-9]$ ]] || [[ ${BUCKET_NAME} =~ ^[a-z0-9]$ ]]; then
16  echo "✓ Format valid (lowercase, alphanumeric, hyphens, dots)"
17else
18  echo "✗ Invalid format: must be lowercase, alphanumeric, hyphens, dots only"
19  echo "  No uppercase, underscores, or special characters"
20  exit 1
21fi
22
23# Check for consecutive dots
24if [[ ${BUCKET_NAME} == *".."* ]]; then
25  echo "✗ Cannot contain consecutive dots (..)"
26  exit 1
27else
28  echo "✓ No consecutive dots"
29fi
30
31# Check if looks like IP address
32if [[ ${BUCKET_NAME} =~ ^[0-9]{1,3}.[0-9]{1,3}.[0-9]{1,3}.[0-9]{1,3}$ ]]; then
33  echo "✗ Cannot be an IP address format"
34  exit 1
35else
36  echo "✓ Not an IP address"
37fi
38
39echo "\n✓ Bucket name is valid"
Generate Valid Bucket Name
1#!/bin/bash
2# Generate valid bucket name
3BASE_NAME="my-app"
4TIMESTAMP=$(date +%s)
5RANDOM_SUFFIX=$(openssl rand -hex 4 | tr '[:upper:]' '[:lower:]')
6
7# Combine and ensure lowercase
8BUCKET_NAME="${BASE_NAME}-${TIMESTAMP}-${RANDOM_SUFFIX}"
9BUCKET_NAME=$(echo ${BUCKET_NAME} | tr '[:upper:]' '[:lower:]')
10
11# Validate length
12if [ ${#BUCKET_NAME} -gt 63 ]; then
13  # Truncate if too long
14  BUCKET_NAME=${BUCKET_NAME:0:63}
15fi
16
17# Ensure it doesn't end with hyphen or dot
18BUCKET_NAME=${BUCKET_NAME%%[-.]}
19
20echo "Generated bucket name: ${BUCKET_NAME}"
21echo "Length: ${#BUCKET_NAME} characters"
22
23# Validate before creating
24if [[ ${BUCKET_NAME} =~ ^[a-z0-9][a-z0-9.-]*[a-z0-9]$ ]] && [ ${#BUCKET_NAME} -ge 3 ] && [ ${#BUCKET_NAME} -le 63 ]; then
25  echo "✓ Name is valid"
26  echo "\nCreating bucket..."
27  aws s3api create-bucket \
28    --bucket ${BUCKET_NAME} \
29    --region us-east-1
30else
31  echo "✗ Generated name is invalid"
32fi
Fix Common Bucket Name Issues
1#!/bin/bash
2# Common bucket name issues and fixes
3BAD_NAME="My-Bucket_Name"  # Has uppercase and underscore
4GOOD_NAME=$(echo "${BAD_NAME}" | tr '[:upper:]' '[:lower:]' | tr '_' '-')
5
6echo "=== Fixing Bucket Name ==="
7echo "Bad: ${BAD_NAME}"
8echo "Good: ${GOOD_NAME}"
9
10# Remove invalid characters
11CLEAN_NAME=$(echo "${BAD_NAME}" | tr '[:upper:]' '[:lower:]' | sed 's/_/-/g' | sed 's/[^a-z0-9.-]//g')
12
13# Ensure doesn't start/end with dot or hyphen
14CLEAN_NAME=$(echo "${CLEAN_NAME}" | sed 's/^[.-]//' | sed 's/[.-]$//')
15
16# Remove consecutive dots
17CLEAN_NAME=$(echo "${CLEAN_NAME}" | sed 's/.././g')
18
19echo "\nCleaned name: ${CLEAN_NAME}"
20
21# Validate final name
22if [ ${#CLEAN_NAME} -ge 3 ] && [ ${#CLEAN_NAME} -le 63 ]; then
23  if [[ ${CLEAN_NAME} =~ ^[a-z0-9][a-z0-9.-]*[a-z0-9]$ ]]; then
24    echo "✓ Valid bucket name: ${CLEAN_NAME}"
25  else
26    echo "✗ Still invalid format"
27  fi
28else
29  echo "✗ Invalid length"
30fi

Related Errors

Provider Information

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

InvalidBucketName - Invalid Bucket Name | AWS Error Reference | Error Code Reference