ECONNREFUSED for sls dynamodb start

Actual Behaviour

Trying to start the database with sls dynamodb start it hangs for a while then gives error:

connect ECONNREFUSED 127.0.0.1:8000

I was able to get it running earlier, but after restarting the computer it stopped working.

Restarting the computer, changing the port and clearing reinstalling node_modules doesn’t change anything.

There is nothing running on that port, and there are no java processes already running to suggest the database is already alive. http://localhost:8000/shell does not run and the serverless functions timeout trying to connect to the database.

Expected Behaviour

Run sls dynamodb start and it runs.

Steps to reproduce it

// package.json
{
  // ...
  "devDependencies": {
    // ...
    "dynamodb-local": "^0.0.24",
    // ...
    "serverless-dynamodb-local": "^0.2.35",
    "serverless-offline": "^3.31.3",
    // ...
  }
}

# serverless.yml
custom:
  # ...
  dynamodb:
    stages:
      - dev
    start:
      migrate: true
      inMemory: true
      noStart: true

plugins:
  - serverless-step-functions
  - serverless-plugin-typescript
  - serverless-dynamodb-local
  - serverless-step-functions-offline
  - serverless-offline

# ...

resources:
  Resources:
    ExampleTable:
      Type: AWS::DynamoDB::Table
      Properties:
        AttributeDefinitions:
          - AttributeName: foo
            AttributeType: S
        KeySchema:
          - AttributeName: foo
            KeyType: HASH
        ProvisionedThroughput:
          ReadCapacityUnits: 1
          WriteCapacityUnits: 1
        TableName: ${self:provider.environment.DYNAMODB_TABLE}

LogCat for the issue

$ SLS_DEBUG=* yarn sls dynamodb start
yarn run v1.12.3
$ serverless dynamodb start
Serverless: Load command config
Serverless: Load command config:credentials
Serverless: Load command create
Serverless: Load command install
Serverless: Load command package
Serverless: Load command deploy
Serverless: Load command deploy:function
Serverless: Load command deploy:list
Serverless: Load command deploy:list:functions
Serverless: Load command invoke
Serverless: Load command invoke:local
Serverless: Load command info
Serverless: Load command logs
Serverless: Load command login
Serverless: Load command logout
Serverless: Load command metrics
Serverless: Load command print
Serverless: Load command remove
Serverless: Load command rollback
Serverless: Load command rollback:function
Serverless: Load command slstats
Serverless: Load command plugin
Serverless: Load command plugin
Serverless: Load command plugin:install
Serverless: Load command plugin
Serverless: Load command plugin:uninstall
Serverless: Load command plugin
Serverless: Load command plugin:list
Serverless: Load command plugin
Serverless: Load command plugin:search
Serverless: Load command config
Serverless: Load command config:credentials
Serverless: Load command rollback
Serverless: Load command rollback:function
Serverless: Load command invoke
Serverless: Load command invoke:stepf
Serverless: Load command dynamodb
Serverless: Load command dynamodb:migrate
Serverless: Load command dynamodb:seed
Serverless: Load command dynamodb:start
Serverless: Load command dynamodb:noStart
Serverless: Load command dynamodb:remove
Serverless: Load command dynamodb:install
Serverless: Load command step-functions-offline
Serverless: Load command offline
Serverless: Load command offline:start
Serverless: Invoke dynamodb:start
Serverless: DynamoDB - Error -

  Networking Error ---------------------------------------

    connect ECONNREFUSED 127.0.0.1:8000

        For debugging logs, run again after setting the "SLS_DEBUG=*" environment variable.

  Stack Trace --------------------------------------------

NetworkingError: connect ECONNREFUSED 127.0.0.1:8000
    at TCPConnectWrap.afterConnect [as oncomplete] (net.js:1121:14)
From previous event:
    at ServerlessDynamodbLocal.createTable (/Users/foo/bar/node_modules/serverless-dynamodb-local/index.js:290:16)
    at BbPromise.each (/Users/foo/bar/node_modules/serverless-dynamodb-local/index.js:169:55)
From previous event:
    at ServerlessDynamodbLocal.migrateHandler (/Users/foo/bar/node_modules/serverless-dynamodb-local/index.js:169:26)
    at BbPromise.resolve.then (/Users/foo/bar/node_modules/serverless-dynamodb-local/index.js:219:45)
From previous event:
    at ServerlessDynamodbLocal.startHandler (/Users/foo/bar/node_modules/serverless-dynamodb-local/index.js:219:10)
    at BbPromise.reduce (/Users/foo/bar/node_modules/serverless/lib/classes/PluginManager.js:391:55)
From previous event:
    at PluginManager.invoke (/Users/foo/bar/node_modules/serverless/lib/classes/PluginManager.js:391:22)
    at PluginManager.run (/Users/foo/bar/node_modules/serverless/lib/classes/PluginManager.js:422:17)
    at variables.populateService.then.then (/Users/foo/bar/node_modules/serverless/lib/Serverless.js:157:33)
    at processImmediate (timers.js:632:19)
    at process.topLevelDomainCallback (domain.js:120:23)
From previous event:
    at Serverless.run (/Users/foo/bar/node_modules/serverless/lib/Serverless.js:144:8)
    at serverless.init.then (/Users/foo/bar/node_modules/serverless/bin/serverless:44:28)

  Get Support --------------------------------------------
    Docs:          docs.serverless.com
    Bugs:          github.com/serverless/serverless/issues
    Issues:        forum.serverless.com

  Your Environment Information -----------------------------
    OS:                     darwin
    Node Version:           11.3.0
    Serverless Version:     1.34.1

error Command failed with exit code 1.
info Visit https://yarnpkg.com/en/docs/cli/run for documentation about this command.

[jasonlimantoro]

Any news on this? I have similar issues whereby ^C doesn’t terminate the dynamodb-local process, although is said otherwise in the documentation. It only stops the serverless offline process.

However, once I do

 kill $(lsof -t -i :8000)

to kill all process runing on that port, and then run

sls offline start

for the next time around, the terminal hangs in this stage:

....
Dynamodb Local Started, Visit: http://localhost:8000/shell
....

and then it finally displays the error

Networking Error ---------------------------------------

  connect ECONNREFUSED 127.0.0.1:8000

     For debugging logs, run again after setting the "SLS_DEBUG=*" environment variable.

  Stack Trace --------------------------------------------

NetworkingError: connect ECONNREFUSED 127.0.0.1:8000

before terminating the prompt.

However even after the prompt is terminated, i.e.

error Command failed with exit code 1.

http://localhost:8000/shell/ works, which is very very weird and sad.

Restarting the whole process would yield the exact same behavior 😦 And yes, even after running the command sls dynamodb remove, the exact same behavior is still happening.

Any help would be appreciated 😃

[SamCB]

Ok. Figured out the fix. Had the .dynamodb directory lying around.

rm -r .dynamodb

And I was able to start up the database. Though is this expected behavior? Why did it cause this particular error and how do I stop it in the future without manually deleting things?