pentaho/pentaho-kettle · error · FileSystemException

Exception getting the list of buckets

Error message

Exception getting the list of buckets 

What it means

S3Provider.getLocations() wraps any failure while listing the S3 buckets of the configured connection into a Commons VFS FileSystemException with the message 'Exception getting the list of buckets '. The real cause (bad credentials, network failure, missing permissions) is attached as the cause and logged first with the connection name.

Solutions

1. Verify the AWS access key/secret and region configured on the S3 connection (s3Details).
2. Grant the IAM user s3:ListAllMyBuckets permission on the account.
3. Inspect the logged cause (Kettle log line above the exception) to identify the underlying AWS SDK error.
4. Test connectivity from the host running Pentaho (network/proxy/DNS) to s3.amazonaws.com.
5. Enable VFS debug logging to capture the full AWS SDK stack trace.

Example fix

// before
for ( Bucket bucket : s3.listBuckets() ) { ... }
// after
try {
  for ( Bucket bucket : s3.listBuckets() ) { ... }
} catch ( AmazonServiceException e ) {
  throw new FileSystemException( "Exception getting the list of buckets: " + e.getErrorCode(), e );
}

// validate before resolving
BasicAWSCredentials creds = new BasicAWSCredentials( accessKey, secretKey );
AmazonS3 probe = AmazonS3ClientBuilder.standard()
  .withCredentials( new AWSStaticCredentialsProvider( creds ) )
  .withRegion( region ).build();
probe.drain(); // or call probe.listBuckets() and check IAM policy first
if ( creds == null || accessKey == null || accessKey.isEmpty() ) throw new IllegalArgumentException( "S3 credentials not configured" );

try {
  List<VFSRoot> locs = provider.getLocations();
} catch ( FileSystemException e ) {
  Throwable root = e.getCause(); // AmazonServiceException carries errorCode
  logger.error( "Bucket listing failed: {}", root != null ? root.getMessage() : e.getMessage(), e );
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling getLocations() (e.g. via a VFS root listing or the S3 VFS 'list buckets' action) when s3.listBuckets() throws: invalid/expired AWS credentials, no s3:ListBucket permission, wrong region/endpoint, or network/DNS failure.

Common situations: Misconfigured S3 connection in Pentaho/Kettle (bad access key or secret), IAM user without ListAllMyBuckets permission, VPC without internet/NAT access, or AWS outage throttling the request.

Related errors

• FileSystemException wrapping KettleFileException
• FileSystemException wrapping SdkClientException
• vfs.provider/copy-file.error
• vfs.provider/copy-missing-file.error
• vfs.provider/create-file.error

AI-assisted analysis of pentaho/pentaho-kettle@f3058517a1 (2026-09-13). Data as JSON: /api/errors/cbdcfe5b0af73a82. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at plugins/s3-vfs/core/src/main/java/org/pentaho/amazon/s3/provider/S3Provider.java:121

  /**
   * Get the list of buckets for a Vfs Connection
   * @param s3Details
   * @return
   * @throws FileSystemException - throws exception whenever there is any exception thrown while doing the listBuckets() call
   */
  @Override public List<VFSRoot> getLocations( S3Details s3Details ) throws FileSystemException {
    List<VFSRoot> buckets = new ArrayList<>();
    try {
      AmazonS3 s3 = getS3Client( s3Details );
      if ( s3 != null ) {
        for ( Bucket bucket : s3.listBuckets() ) {
          buckets.add( new VFSRoot( bucket.getName(), bucket.getCreationDate() ) );
        }
      }
    } catch ( Exception e ) {
      log.logError( "Exception getting the list of buckets for connection '" + s3Details.getName() + "'", e );
      throw new FileSystemException( "Exception getting the list of buckets ", e );
    }
    return buckets;
  }

  @Override
  public String getName() {
    return NAME;
  }

  @Override
  public String getKey() {
    return S3FileProvider.SCHEME;
  }

  @Override public String getProtocol( S3Details s3Details ) {
    return S3FileProvider.SCHEME;
  }

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