What if Amazon Bedrock is not enabled or available in my AWS account or region? How can I gain access to it?

If Amazon Bedrock isn’t enabled or available in your AWS account or region, the first step is to verify its availability and request access. Bedrock is a regional service, so it may not be supported in all AWS regions. Check the AWS Regional Services List to confirm whether Bedrock is available in your region. If it’s listed but not accessible, you’ll need to enable it through the AWS Management Console. Navigate to the Bedrock service page, select your region, and follow the prompts to request access. AWS sometimes restricts initial access to ensure compliance or manage capacity, so approval might take up to 72 hours. For example, if your account is new or lacks usage history, AWS may require additional verification before granting access.

If Bedrock isn’t available in your region, you have two options: switch to a supported region or request AWS to expand Bedrock’s availability. To switch regions, update your AWS CLI configuration or SDK client to target a supported region like us-east-1 or eu-west-1. However, this might require migrating existing resources or adjusting workflows. If your project requires Bedrock in an unsupported region, contact AWS Support to submit a regional expansion request. Include details about your use case, such as workload requirements or compliance needs, to help AWS prioritize the rollout. For instance, a healthcare company might justify expansion to comply with data residency laws. Note that AWS doesn’t provide timelines for regional expansions, so this approach may involve delays.

If immediate access is critical, consider using alternative services while waiting for Bedrock. For example, AWS SageMaker provides infrastructure to deploy custom machine learning models, which could replicate some Bedrock functionality. Alternatively, use Bedrock’s API endpoints in a supported region and route traffic there, though this may increase latency. Ensure your IAM policies allow cross-region access if needed. For temporary testing, AWS often provides limited free-tier access in select regions, which you can use to prototype workflows. Lastly, review your AWS account’s Service Control Policies (SCPs) or organizational restrictions—administrators might have disabled Bedrock by default, requiring internal approval to enable it.