Problem description
When attempting to perform an Amazon EC2 instance or volume restore using Druva CloudRanger, the restore operation fails. The job details display the following failure status message:
"'Created by application' is not a valid tag key. Tag keys must match pattern ([0-9a-zA-Z\\\\-_+=,.@:]{1,255}), and must not be a reserved name ('.', '..', '_index')"Cause
This issue occurs because the target AWS account or region has Access to tags in metadata enabled under its global Amazon EC2 Instance Metadata Service (IMDS) defaults.
When this feature is enabled, AWS applies strict naming pattern checks on all resource tags to ensure compatibility with HTTP token requests. This enforced regex pattern ([0-9a-zA-Z\-_+=,.@:]) does not allow space characters. Because Druva CloudRanger natively appends default system tags containing spaces (such as Created by application) during a recovery process, AWS rejects the restore operation.
Traceback
Status Message: "'Created by application' is not a valid tag key. Tag keys must match pattern ([0-9a-zA-Z\\\\-_+=,.@:]{1,255}), and must not be a reserved name ('.', '..', '_index')"Resolution
To resolve this issue, you must disable the global metadata tag access setting within your AWS EC2 console.
Log in to the AWS Management Console and navigate to the Amazon EC2 Dashboard.
From the left navigation pane, scroll to the bottom and click Settings.
Scroll down to the Instance metadata service (IMDS) defaults section.
Locate the Access to tags in metadata option and change the setting to Disabled.
Save your changes.
Return to the Druva CloudRanger Management Console and re-initiate the EC2 restore job.
Verification
To verify that the configuration has been modified correctly to allow successful restores:
Navigate to AWS → EC2 → Settings (bottom left menu).
Scroll down to IMDS Defaults.
Confirm that Access to tags in metadata is explicitly set to Disabled.
Once verified as disabled, execute a test restore in Druva CloudRanger to confirm the job completes with a
Successstatus.