aws_instance adds extra tag '#'

[patricklucas]

Terraform adds a superfluous tag to AWS instances '#' with a value of the quantity of other tags it applies.

I would guess this has something to do with the API convention of having a '.#' field that indicates the number of unique instances of .

$ cat asdf.tf
provider "aws" {
    region = "us-west-1"
}

resource "aws_instance" "foo-1" {
    ami = "ami-abcd1234"
    instance_type = "m3.large"
    subnet_id = "subnet-ab1234cd"
    security_groups = ["sg-01234567"]
    tags {
        Name = "test-foo-1"
        mytag = "foo"
    }
    block_device {
        device_name = "/dev/sda1"
        volume_type = "gp2"
        volume_size = 16
    }
    block_device {
        device_name = "/dev/sdf"
        volume_type = "gp2"
        volume_size = 1024
    }
}

$ terraform plan
Refreshing Terraform state prior to plan...


The Terraform execution plan has been generated and is shown below.
Resources are shown in alphabetical order for quick scanning. Green resources
will be created (or destroyed and then created if an existing resource
exists), yellow resources are being changed in-place, and red resources
will be destroyed.

Note: You didn't specify an "-out" parameter to save this plan, so when
"apply" is called, Terraform can't guarantee this is what will execute.

+ aws_instance.foo-1
    ami:                                           "" => "ami-abcd1234"
    availability_zone:                             "" => "<computed>"
    block_device.#:                                "" => "2"
    block_device.2382792209.delete_on_termination: "" => "1"
    block_device.2382792209.device_name:           "" => "/dev/sdf"
    block_device.2382792209.encrypted:             "" => "<computed>"
    block_device.2382792209.snapshot_id:           "" => "<computed>"
    block_device.2382792209.virtual_name:          "" => ""
    block_device.2382792209.volume_size:           "" => "1024"
    block_device.2382792209.volume_type:           "" => "gp2"
    block_device.2936417914.delete_on_termination: "" => "1"
    block_device.2936417914.device_name:           "" => "/dev/sda1"
    block_device.2936417914.encrypted:             "" => "<computed>"
    block_device.2936417914.snapshot_id:           "" => "<computed>"
    block_device.2936417914.virtual_name:          "" => ""
    block_device.2936417914.volume_size:           "" => "16"
    block_device.2936417914.volume_type:           "" => "gp2"
    instance_type:                                 "" => "m3.large"
    key_name:                                      "" => "<computed>"
    private_dns:                                   "" => "<computed>"
    private_ip:                                    "" => "<computed>"
    public_dns:                                    "" => "<computed>"
    public_ip:                                     "" => "<computed>"
    security_groups.#:                             "" => "1"
    security_groups.2681880818:                    "" => "sg-01234567"
    subnet_id:                                     "" => "subnet-ab1234cd"
    tags.#:                                        "" => "2"
    tags.Name:                                     "" => "test-foo-1"
    tags.mytag:                                    "" => "foo"
    tenancy:                                       "" => "<computed>"



$ terraform apply
aws_instance.foo-1: Creating...
  ami:                                           "" => "ami-abcd1234"
  availability_zone:                             "" => "<computed>"
  block_device.#:                                "" => "2"
  block_device.2382792209.delete_on_termination: "" => "1"
  block_device.2382792209.device_name:           "" => "/dev/sdf"
  block_device.2382792209.encrypted:             "" => "<computed>"
  block_device.2382792209.snapshot_id:           "" => "<computed>"
  block_device.2382792209.virtual_name:          "" => ""
  block_device.2382792209.volume_size:           "" => "1024"
  block_device.2382792209.volume_type:           "" => "gp2"
  block_device.2936417914.delete_on_termination: "" => "1"
  block_device.2936417914.device_name:           "" => "/dev/sda1"
  block_device.2936417914.encrypted:             "" => "<computed>"
  block_device.2936417914.snapshot_id:           "" => "<computed>"
  block_device.2936417914.virtual_name:          "" => ""
  block_device.2936417914.volume_size:           "" => "16"
  block_device.2936417914.volume_type:           "" => "gp2"
  instance_type:                                 "" => "m3.large"
  key_name:                                      "" => "<computed>"
  private_dns:                                   "" => "<computed>"
  private_ip:                                    "" => "<computed>"
  public_dns:                                    "" => "<computed>"
  public_ip:                                     "" => "<computed>"
  security_groups.#:                             "" => "1"
  security_groups.2681880818:                    "" => "sg-01234567"
  subnet_id:                                     "" => "subnet-ab1234cd"
  tags.#:                                        "" => "2"
  tags.Name:                                     "" => "test-foo-1"
  tags.mytag:                                    "" => "foo"
  tenancy:                                       "" => "<computed>"
aws_instance.foo-1: Creation complete

Apply complete! Resources: 1 added, 0 changed, 0 destroyed.

The state of your infrastructure has been saved to the path
below. This state is required to modify and destroy your
infrastructure, so keep it safe. To inspect the complete state
use the `terraform show` command.

State path: terraform.tfstate

$ aws ec2 describe-tags --filters Name=resource-id,Values=i-5381849b
{
    "Tags": [
        {
            "ResourceType": "instance",
            "ResourceId": "i-5381849b",
            "Value": "test-foo-1",
            "Key": "Name"
        },
        {
            "ResourceType": "instance",
            "ResourceId": "i-5381849b",
            "Value": "foo",
            "Key": "mytag"
        },
        {
            "ResourceType": "instance",
            "ResourceId": "i-5381849b",
            "Value": "2",
            "Key": "#"
        }
    ]
}

[phinze]

This is probably a core bug but will tag as AWS for the moment. Will make sure to get this fixed before we cut 0.3.7

[kamaljeetrathi]

Any provision to set the name of aws instance in terraform.

[phinze]

@kamaljeetrathi in EC2, the name of an instance is just a "Name" tag. So if you set a Name tag it will show up in the web console as the instance name.

[ghost]

I'm going to lock this issue because it has been closed for 30 days ⏳. This helps our maintainers find and focus on the active issues.

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