Can't send parameters from a child CloudFormation template to another child template

Question

I am crafting a monstrosity of a CloudFormation template that uses the AWS::CloudFormation::Stack resource to spawn other nested stacks. The purpose of this is the classic separation of duties and management.

The overall goal is to build an application environment from the ground up (starting with VPC and ending with the application instances).

So far, most of it works. But I've hit a road block with referencing the outputs of the subnet CF template and the securitygroup CF template for use in creating the EC2 instances.

It works like this:

Master template --> Builds VPC --> Calls child template to build subnets --> Calls child template to build security groups --> Calls child template to build EC2 instances

I need to pass the outputs from the subnet and security group templates to the EC2 instance template so the instances can be provisioned into the correct part of the architecture. The VPC ID ref and KeyPairs pass in fine, but the subnetID and securitygroupID do not.

Here's the portion of the master template that calls the security group/subnet templates:

"DevNetworkStack": {
        "Type": "AWS::CloudFormation::Stack",
        "DependsOn": [
            "SNVPC",
            "SNIGW"
        ],
        "Properties": {
            "TemplateURL": {
                "Fn::FindInMap": [
                    "TemplateURLs",
                    "DevNetworkStack",
                    "URL"
                ]
            },
            "TimeoutInMinutes": "30",
            "Parameters": {
                "VPCID": {
                    "Ref": "SNVPC"
                },
                "SNIGW": {
                    "Ref": "SNIGW"
                }
            }
        }
    },
    "DevSecurityGroupsStack": {
        "Type": "AWS::CloudFormation::Stack",
        "DependsOn": "DevNetworkStack",
        "Properties": {
            "TemplateURL": {
                "Fn::FindInMap": [
                    "TemplateURLs",
                    "DevSecurityGroupsStack",
                    "URL"
                ]
            },
            "TimeoutInMinutes": "30",
            "Parameters": {
                "VPCID": {
                    "Ref": "SNVPC"
                }
            }
        }
},

These work fine. They create and everything is fine. The templates offer outputs like so:

"Outputs": {
     "DevAdminSubnetID": {
        "Description": "DevAdminSubnetID",
        "Value": {
            "Ref": "DevAdminSubnet"
        }
},

...

"Outputs": {
     "DevAdminSecurityGroupID": {
        "Description": "DevAdminSecurityGroupID",
        "Value": {
            "Ref": "DevAdminSecurityGroup"
        }
},

I can see the outputs in the CF console.

Now, the next template is trying to use the Security Group ID and the Subnet ID. But it's not working.

Master template calls the next child as:

"DevAdminStack": {
       "Type": "AWS::CloudFormation::Stack",
        "DependsOn": [
            "DevNetworkStack",
            "DevSecurityGroupsStack",
            "EC2DevRoleInstanceProfile",
            "S3DevUserDataBucket",
            "S3DevHomeDirsDataBucket"
        ],
        "Properties": {
            "TemplateURL": {
                "Fn::FindInMap": [
                    "TemplateURLs",
                    "DevAdminStack",
                    "URL"
                ]
            },
            "TimeoutInMinutes": "30",
            "Parameters": {
                "AdminKeyPair": {
                    "Ref": "AdminServersKeyPair"
                },
                "VPCID": {
                    "Ref": "SNVPC"
                },
                "DevAdminSecurityGroupID": [
                    {
                        "Fn::GetAtt": [
                            "DevSecurityGroupsStack",
                            "Outputs.DevAdminSecurityGroupID"
                        ]
                    }
                ],
                "DevAdminSubnetID": [
                    {
                        "Fn::GetAtt": [
                            "DevNetworkStack",
                            "Outputs.DevAdminSubnetID"
                        ]
                    }
                ]
            }
        }
}

...and the child template looks like this (removed some portions for brevity because I'm just testing right now)

{
"AWSTemplateFormatVersion": "2010-09-09",
"Description": "Dev-Admin",
"Mappings": {
    "RegionMap": {
        "DevAdminServer": {
            "AMI": "ami-6fc9770e",
            "InstanceType": "t2.micro"
        }
    }
},
"Parameters": {
    "AdminKeyPair": {
        "Type": "AWS::EC2::KeyPair::KeyName"
    },
    "VPCID": {
        "Type": "AWS::EC2::VPC::Id"
    },
    "DevAdminSecurityGroupID": {
        "Type": "AWS::EC2::SecurityGroup::Id"
    },
    "DevAdminSubnetID": {
        "Type": "AWS::EC2::Subnet::Id"
    }
},
"Resources": {
    "DevAdminServer": {
        "Type": "AWS::EC2::Instance",
        "Metadata": {
            "Comment": "Sets up administrative tools for the server",
            "AWS::CloudFormation::Init": {
                "config": {
                    "packages": {
                        "yum": {}
                    },
                    "files": {},
                    "services": {}
                }
            }
        },
        "Properties": {
            "ImageId": {
                "Fn::FindInMap": [
                    "RegionMap",
                    "DevAdminServer",
                    "AMI"
                ]
            },
            "SecurityGroupIds": [
                {
                    "Ref": "DevAdminSecurityGroupID"
                }
            ],
            "SubnetId": {
                "Ref": "DevAdminSubnetID"
            },
            "InstanceType": {
                "Fn::FindInMap": [
                    "RegionMap",
                    "DevAdminServer",
                    "InstanceType"
                ]
            },
            "KeyName": {
                "Ref": "AdminKeyPair"
            },
            "Tags": [
                {
                    "Key": "Application",
                    "Value": {
                        "Ref": "AWS::StackId"
                    }
                }
            ],
            "UserData": {
                "Fn::Base64": {
                    "Fn::Join": [
                        "",
                        []
                    ]
                }
            }
        }
    }
  }
}

But this resource fails on creation with the error:

Value of property Parameters must be an object with String (or simple type) properties

I know it's the last two variables causing the trouble (subnetID and securitygroupID), because I removed them and the provisioning the child template works just fine.

What am I doing wrong?

wjordan wjordan · Accepted Answer · 2017-01-02T05:14:15

The values of DevAdminSecurityGroupID and DevAdminSubnetID are defined as JSON arrays [] in your master template, but they should be Strings (after the Fn::GetAtt intrinsic function expansion):

            "DevAdminSecurityGroupID":
                {
                    "Fn::GetAtt": [
                        "DevSecurityGroupsStack",
                        "Outputs.DevAdminSecurityGroupID"
                    ]
                },
            "DevAdminSubnetID":
                {
                    "Fn::GetAtt": [
                        "DevNetworkStack",
                        "Outputs.DevAdminSubnetID"
                    ]
                }

Can't send parameters from a child CloudFormation template to another child template

1 Answers