Unable to connect to DynamoDB ap-southeast-2 — other AWS services in same region work fine

Question

# Unable to connect to DynamoDB ap-southeast-2 — other AWS services in same region work fine

## Problem

Starting this morning (March 12, 2026), I cannot connect to DynamoDB endpoints in **ap-southeast-2 (Sydney)** from my local machine. The connection times out after ~75 seconds. This was working fine yesterday.

**The strange part:** Other AWS services in the same region work, and DynamoDB in other regions works too.

## What I've tested

| Endpoint | Result |
|----------|--------|
| `dynamodb.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com` | ❌ Timeout after 75s |
| `s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com` | ✅ Works |
| `sts.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com` | ✅ Works |
| `dynamodb.us-east-1.amazonaws.com` | ✅ Works |
| CloudShell → DynamoDB ap-southeast-2 | ✅ Works |

## Test outputs

**DynamoDB Sydney (FAILS):**
```
$ curl -I https://dynamodb.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com
curl: (28) Failed to connect to dynamodb.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com port 443 after 75130 ms: Couldn't connect to server
```

**S3 Sydney (WORKS):**
```
$ curl -I https://s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com
HTTP/1.1 405 Method Not Allowed
Server: AmazonS3
```

**DynamoDB US East (WORKS):**
```
$ curl -I https://dynamodb.us-east-1.amazonaws.com
HTTP/1.1 404 Not Found
Server: Server
```

**DNS resolves correctly:**
```
$ nslookup dynamodb.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com
Name:    dynamodb.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com
Address: 35.71.97.0
```

**CloudShell works fine:**
```
$ aws dynamodb list-tables --region ap-southeast-2
{
    "TableNames": [
        "my-table-1",
        "my-table-2",
        "my-table-3",
        "my-table-4",
        "my-table-5"
    ]
}
```

## Environment

- **Location:** Bangkok, Thailand
- **Network:** Home network (no VPN, no corporate firewall)
- **OS:** macOS (Darwin/25.2.0)
- **AWS CLI:** aws-cli/2.27.30 Python/3.13.3

## Questions

1. Is anyone else experiencing connectivity issues to DynamoDB ap-southeast-2?
2. Is there a known routing issue affecting the 35.71.97.0 IP range?
3. Any recent changes to DynamoDB endpoints in Sydney region?

---

**Tags:** `dynamodb`, `ap-southeast-2`, `connectivity`, `networking`

Ye Thiha · Accepted Answer

**Update: Issue Resolved**

The issue has been resolved, and I wanted to share the troubleshooting process in case it helps others facing similar problems.

**The Problem:**

DynamoDB ap-southeast-2 → Connection timeout

S3 ap-southeast-2 → Working

DynamoDB us-east-1 → Working

CloudShell → Working

At this point, I was completely confused. No VPN was involved, and other AWS services in the same region worked fine.

**The Breakthrough:** I asked a friend to run the same curl command (curl -I https://dynamodb.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com ) from his home network he got a healthy response. This confirmed the issue was isolated to my network.

**The Fix:** I reset my WiFi router (provided by my ISP). After it reloaded, DynamoDB ap-southeast-2 became reachable again, and my local development environment connected successfully.

**Lesson Learned:** When a specific AWS endpoint is unreachable but others work fine, and CloudShell has no issues, it's likely a local network or ISP routing problem, not an AWS outage. A simple router restart can resolve stale or broken routes.

re:Post Agent · Answer

Based on your troubleshooting, this appears to be a network routing or connectivity issue specific to the DynamoDB endpoint in ap-southeast-2 from your location, rather than a service-wide problem. Here are some recommendations:

**Immediate troubleshooting steps:**

1. **Try the account-based endpoint**: Newer versions of the AWS SDK connect to DynamoDB using account-based endpoints. Try connecting to `account-id.ddb.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com` instead of the regional endpoint (replace `account-id` with your AWS account ID).

2. **Check for network path issues**: Since DNS resolves correctly but the connection times out, this suggests a routing problem between your location in Bangkok and that specific IP range. The fact that CloudShell works confirms the DynamoDB service itself is operational.

3. **Test from a different network**: Try connecting from a different network (mobile hotspot, different ISP) to determine if this is specific to your current network path.

4. **Adjust timeout and retry settings**: If you're using the AWS SDK, consider adjusting your timeout configurations. However, be careful not to set timeouts too low, as this can cause client-induced availability issues.

5. **Reduce distance to endpoint**: Since you're connecting from Bangkok to Sydney, consider whether you actually need to use ap-southeast-2, or if a geographically closer region like ap-southeast-1 (Singapore) would be more appropriate for your use case.

**What this likely isn't:**

- Not a DynamoDB service issue (CloudShell connectivity confirms this)
- Not a credentials or permissions problem (other regions work)
- Not a DNS issue (resolution is successful)

This appears to be an internet routing issue between your ISP in Bangkok and the specific DynamoDB endpoint IP range in Sydney. Such issues can be transient and may resolve on their own, or may require routing updates by intermediate network providers.  
**Sources**  
[Amazon DynamoDB endpoints and quotas - AWS General Reference](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/general/latest/gr/ddb.html)  
[Troubleshooting latency issues in Amazon DynamoDB - Amazon DynamoDB](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/amazondynamodb/latest/developerguide/TroubleshootingLatency.html)

SHAJAM · Answer

Try these commands and see if you get success

```
nc -vz dynamodb.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com 443
traceroute dynamodb.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com
```
This could confirm if you have networking issue

Unable to connect to DynamoDB ap-southeast-2 — other AWS services in same region work fine

Unable to connect to DynamoDB ap-southeast-2 — other AWS services in same region work fine

Problem

What I've tested

Test outputs

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Relevant content

Endpoint	Result
`dynamodb.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com`	❌ Timeout after 75s
`s3.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com`	✅ Works
`sts.ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com`	✅ Works
`dynamodb.us-east-1.amazonaws.com`	✅ Works
CloudShell → DynamoDB ap-southeast-2	✅ Works