Cloudformation stack won't update after template change

Question

I tried to update a cloudformation stack after I changed the parameters. The change I did for some parameters is added NoEcho: true property in order to not present the secret parameters in the meta data of the stack. When I upload the new template I see the changes in the parameters but when I try to apply the changes I get an error saying that there were no changes. I understand that no change was made in one of the resources itself, but I need to change this stack without destroying it and re-creating, just updating it.

Does anyone have a proper solution for this problem? Thank you!

Answer 1

It is a bit tedious. If you want to do an update to an existing stack in Cloudformation by changing the value of a parameter (e.g. using them as variables), Cloudformation doesn't detect it as a change. You have to change something in the Resources section.

Cloudformation is great if you don't need to go back and change existing stacks, not so great if you need to make updates routinely.

Answer 2

Make some arbitrary changes to the stack. For example, create a new resource, deploy it, then remove it and deploy again.