Creating a CloudFront distribution: InvalidOrigin error when distribution_config.origins.items.s3_origin_config isn't present

[dandunckelman]

I've been testing an automated process where I create a S3 bucket and then a CloudFront distribution. Executing my script would give the following error:

aws-sdk-1.8.1.1/lib/aws/core/client.rb:318:in `return_or_raise': The origin server does not exist or is not valid. (AWS::CloudFront::Errors::InvalidOrigin)

Code:

require 'rubygems'
require 'aws-sdk'

cf = AWS::CloudFront.new

cloudfront_config = {
    :distribution_config => {
        :caller_reference => Time.now.nsec.to_s,
        :aliases => {
            :quantity => 0
        },
        :default_root_object => "index.html",
        :origins => {
            :quantity => 1,
            :items => [
                {
                    :id => "BUCKETNAME",
                    :domain_name => "BUCKETNAME.s3.amazonaws.com"
                }
            ]
        },
        :default_cache_behavior => {
            :target_origin_id => "#{d}",
            :forwarded_values => {
                :query_string => false
            },
            :trusted_signers => {
                :enabled => false,
                :quantity => 0
            },
            :viewer_protocol_policy => "allow-all",
            :min_ttl => 900
        },
        :cache_behaviors => {
            :quantity => 0
        },
        :comment => "A new CloudFront distribution has been created for BUCKETNAME.",
        :logging => {
            :enabled => false,
            :bucket => "",
            :prefix => ""
        },
        :enabled => true
    }
}

cloudfront_distribution = cf.client.create_distribution(cloudfront_config)

That kept giving the InvalidOrigin error until I stumbled upon this: https://bitbucket.org/jmurty/jets3t/issue/150/update-to-api-version-2012-05-05. So, I made it work by modifying distribution_config.origins.items to look like this:

:items => [ 
    {
        :id => "BUCKETNAME",
        :domain_name => "BUCKETNAME.s3.amazonaws.com",
        :s3_origin_config => {
            :origin_access_identity => ""
        }
    }
]

I'm bringing this up, because the documentation indicated "s3_origin_config" as optional (see here: http://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSRubySDK/latest/AWS/CloudFront/Client.html#create_distribution-instance_method), so I left it off and then had quite a time trying to figure out what was wrong.

[trevorrowe]

The :s3_origin_config is not marked as required because it is only needed when the origin is an S3 bucket. If the origin is outside Amazon S3, then you would need to pass the :custom_origin_config option instead. The documentation you linked to is built directly from the public API documentation here:

http://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonCloudFront/latest/APIReference/DistributionConfigDatatype.html#DistributionConfigDatatype_Elements

It can be generally difficult to document these conditionally-required parameters as the conditions that makes a param required can be complex. Do you have a suggestion that you feel would improve this for the next user?

[dandunckelman]

Aww, I see. I had the bad assumption that it was NOT required, even if my origin is an S3 bucket.

I suppose it would be more clear if it stated that it was required when the origin is an S3 bucket.

[trevorrowe]

I will pass along the suggesting to the documentation team for Cloud Front. I'm going to go ahead and close this issue as thanks, Thanks for the feedback!

[dandunckelman]

Great. Thanks for the help.