How to Fix "The bucket that you tried to delete is not empty" Error When Deleting an S3 Table Bucket

Ever tried deleting an S3 Table Bucket only to be blocked by the ‘bucket is not empty’ error? In this post, we’ll tackle exactly that.

Error Overview

When attempting to delete an S3 Table Bucket using the AWS CLI, you might encounter the error:

An error occurred (BadRequestException) when calling the DeleteTableBucket operation: The bucket that you tried to delete is not empty.  

This occurs because S3 Table Buckets require all associated tables and namespaces to be deleted before the bucket itself can be removed.

Solution Steps

Follow these steps to delete the bucket and its dependencies:

1. List All Tables in the Bucket
   Use the list-tables command to identify tables linked to the bucket:

   aws s3tables list-tables \  
     --region <your-region> \  
     --table-bucket-arn arn:aws:s3tables:<region>:<account-id>:bucket/<your-table-bucket>  

   Note the namespace and name of each table.

2. Delete Each Table
   Run delete-table for every table listed:

   aws s3tables delete-table \  
     --region <your-region> \  
     --table-bucket-arn arn:aws:s3tables:<region>:<account-id>:bucket/<your-table-bucket> \  
     --namespace <your-namespace> \  
     --name <your-table-name>  

3. List All Namespaces
   Retrieve the namespaces linked to the bucket using list-namespaces:

   aws s3tables list-namespaces \  
     --table-bucket-arn arn:aws:s3tables:<region>:<account-id>:bucket/<your-table-bucket> \  
     --region <your-region> \  
     --no-paginate \  
     --query "namespaces[].namespace[]" \  
     --output text  

   This command returns all namespaces in plain text.

4. Delete All Namespaces
   Remove each namespace using delete-namespace:

   aws s3tables delete-namespace \  
     --table-bucket-arn arn:aws:s3tables:<region>:<account-id>:bucket/<your-table-bucket> \  
     --namespace <your-namespace>  

5. Delete the Table Bucket
   Once all dependencies are removed, delete the bucket:

   aws s3tables delete-table-bucket \  
     --region <your-region> \  
     --table-bucket-arn arn:aws:s3tables:<region>:<account-id>:bucket/<your-table-bucket>  

Key Notes

• ARN Format: Use the bucket’s ARN (e.g., arn:aws:s3tables:...:bucket/<your-bucket>), not the table’s ARN.
• Permissions: Ensure your IAM role/user has:
  • s3tables:ListTables
  • s3tables:DeleteTable
  • s3tables:ListNamespaces
  • s3tables:DeleteNamespace
  • s3tables:DeleteTableBucket
• Pagination: Use --no-paginate to retrieve all namespaces/tables in one call.

Troubleshooting

• If list-namespaces returns no results, confirm the ARN and region.
• aws s3tables not recognized? Update your AWS CLI to the latest version.
• Large datasets? Use --max-items and --starting-token for pagination, or automate deletion with a script.

Credits: Based on AWS CLI documentation and community-tested workflows.
Tags: #AWSCLI #S3Tables #ErrorResolution #AWSHowTo