diff --git a/cloud/amazon/ec2_metric_alarm.py b/cloud/amazon/ec2_metric_alarm.py
index 578a1af7297..b9ac1524794 100644
--- a/cloud/amazon/ec2_metric_alarm.py
+++ b/cloud/amazon/ec2_metric_alarm.py
@@ -184,7 +184,7 @@ def create_metric_alarm(connection, module):
         comparisons = {'<=' : 'LessThanOrEqualToThreshold', '<' : 'LessThanThreshold', '>=' : 'GreaterThanOrEqualToThreshold', '>' : 'GreaterThanThreshold'}
         alarm.comparison = comparisons[comparison]
 
-        dim1 = module.params.get('dimensions')
+        dim1 = module.params.get('dimensions', {})
         dim2 = alarm.dimensions
 
         for keys in dim1: