How Do You Troubleshoot the Error “VpcLimitExceeded” When Running an Ansible Playbook in AWS?

Problem scenario
You are running an Ansible playbook in AWS, and you get this message:

TASK [metron-test:  Create virtual private cloud] ******************************
fatal: [localhost]: FAILED! => {"changed": false, "failed": true, "msg": "VpcLimitExceeded: The maximum number of VPCs has been reached."}
        to retry, use: --limit @/usr/bin/metron/metron-deployment/amazon-ec2/playbook.retry

Solution
You must have an AWS account with a special maximum of VPCs.  The default number of VPCs one can create is five according to AWS documentation.  While we know you can create more than five without a special request, we have found this limit to be enforced on occasion.  

If you are willing to take the risk of being billed for numerous EC-2 servers, we recommend you go to this link and request your account have a new limit of VPCs in west-2.  If you are trying to deploy Apache Metron, you will want need 10 EC-2 instances for a typical configuration.  If you want the region to support servers beyond this purpose, you may need a limit value greater than 10.  

​The form should be filled out like this:

This request may take a 30 minutes or so.  Depending on various factors (e.g., how busy Amazon is and time for the changes to take effect), the time you wait will vary.

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