How to force root stack update when nested stack is in state DELETE_COMPLETE?

Question

I had to delete nested stack, but I cannot update the root one now.

I get the following error:

Stack is in DELETE_COMPLETE state and can not be updated.

What should I do to make CFN update root stack and recreate the nested one?

Answer 1

Your only options:

1. Delete the parent stack and redeploy.

2. Remove the nested stack from the parent stack's template, deploy. Put the nested stack back, deploy. This will trigger a CREATE event for the nested stack instead of an UPDATE event.

Answer 2

Option 3, comment out the nested stack that is stuck in that transient state, then build and deploy. That should fix the transient state, assuming all the resources have been cleaned up properly.

Then, uncomment the NestedStack, rebuild, and redeploy with your original structure. That should be much simpler than above option (2), and requires much less compute time than option (1) because you are only changing the nested stack, not the parent.