How do I resolve the "Already Exists" error that I receive when I redeploy my AWS CDK code after I delete the stack from the deployment?

Resolution

Most stateful resources in the AWS CDK Construct Library accept the removalPolicy property with RETAIN as the default. For more information, see enum RemovalPolicy on the AWS CDK website.

If you don't set the removalPolicy property on your resources, then the resources become orphaned. They remain in your AWS account after you delete the stack, and transition to the DELETE_COMPLETE state. If you specified a custom name for the resources, then the "Already Exists" error appears when you redeploy the same code.

Note: The following steps use an example Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) bucket resource that's associated with the s3.Bucket class in AWS CDK. By default, the resource's removalPolicy is set to RETAIN. When you delete the associated stack, the resource is retained in your account. When you update the stack, the resource is removed.

The following is an example of a custom-named resource:

const s3Bucket = new s3.Bucket(this, 's3-bucket', {
 bucketName: 'DOC-EXAMPLE-BUCKET1',
 versioned: false,
 encryption: s3.BucketEncryption.S3_MANAGED
 });

Manually delete the retained resource

Complete the following steps:

1. Sign in to the AWS Management Console.
2. Choose the service of the resources that you don't want to retain.
3. Manually delete the resources. For example, to remove the s3.bucket resource, delete the Amazon S3 bucket.
4. To redeploy the AWS CDK, run the following command:

   cdk deploy

Change the name of the retained resource

Complete the following steps:

1. Open the AWS CDK code of the resource that you want to change the name of.
2. Update the name of the resource to a unique value that doesn't conflict with the name of the retained resource:

   const s3Bucket = new s3.Bucket(this, 's3-bucket', {
    bucketName: 'EXAMPLE-NEW-NAME-S3-BUCKET',
    versioned: false,
    encryption: s3.BucketEncryption.S3_MANAGED
    });

   Note: The preceding example uses the bucketName parameter to change the name of the s3.Bucket resource.

Delete the resource name

Delete the resource name so that AWS CDK can generate a unique name.

Complete the following steps:

1. Remove the resource name from AWS CDK:

   const s3Bucket = new s3.Bucket(this, 's3-bucket', {
    versioned: false,
    encryption: s3.BucketEncryption.S3_MANAGED
    });

   Note: The preceding example code removes the bucketName property to allow AWS CDK to generate a new name.
2. To redeploy AWS CDK, run the following command:

   cdk deploy

Set the removalPolicy to DESTROY

Before you delete a stack, set the resource's removalPolicy to DESTROY.

Complete the following steps:

1. Open the AWS CDK code of the resources that you don't want to retain.

2. Set the removalPolicy property to DESTROY:

   const s3Bucket = new s3.Bucket(this, 's3-bucket', {
    bucketName: 'EXAMPLE-S3-BUCKET',
    removalPolicy: RemovalPolicy.DESTROY
    });

3. To access the AWS CloudFormation template, run the following cdk synth command:

   cdk synth

   Then, verify that the DeletionPolicy and UpdateReplacePolicy is set to Delete.