Issues with Start-SleepProgress

[master135]

Hi,
I'm running Posh-ACME module on Azure's Automation Account Hybrid Worker (Oracle Linux 7.9). It works everything good when I run my New-PACertificate from SSH session. However on Automation accout it always hangs on Start-SleepProgress private function. Guess this behaviour is because Automation Account is not friendly to Write-Progress cmdlet.
Since primary usage of this module is automation of getting certificates I would expect there is no need to display progress bar for end user, rather logging information that script execution will be paused for some time.
I would override Start-SleepProgress with my own function, however since its in private, nothing works for me at the moment..

[rmbolger]

Hi @master135. Thanks for reaching out. Are you sure the process hangs indefinitely? Whether or not you're running New-PACertificate interactively, there's still a default sleep time (2 minutes) that happens while the module waits for published DNS changes to propagate. But that sleep time can vary if you've overridden the default using -DnsSleep in New-PAOrder or New-PACertificate.

I haven't heard about issues with Write-Progress in Azure Automation accounts before. And I'm pretty sure there are existing users using Posh-ACME with Automation runbooks successfully.

[rmbolger]

Nevermind. Apparently, it's a documented limitation I was unaware of. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/automation/automation-runbook-output-and-messages#handle-progress-records

The Write-Progress cmdlet is not valid in a runbook, since this cmdlet is intended for use with an interactive user.

I'm curious whether the the $ProgressPreference would work to workaround the problem. Could you possible try setting $ProgressPreference = 'SilentlyContinue' prior to running New-PACertificate?

If that doesn't work, the easiest fix would probably be adding support for an environment variable to disable calling Write-Progress. Something like POSHACME_DISABLE_WRITEPROGRESS.

[master135]

Hi @rmbolger
Thanks for getting back so quick.
I'm pretty sure the issue here is with Write-Progress. I've set whatever timeouts with DNSSleep and ValidationTimeOut and this does not help. Output always stucks on.
Waiting for DNS to propagate Sleeping... [ooooooooooooooooooooooooooo ] 00:01:11 remaining. Waiting for DNS to propagate Sleeping... [ooooooooooooooooooooooooooo ] 00:01:11 remaining. Waiting for DNS to propagate Sleeping... [oooooooooooooooooooo

Unfortunately $ProgressPreference is not supported on Azure Automation Account
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/automation/automation-runbook-output-and-messages#work-with-preference-variables

If that doesn't work, the easiest fix would probably be adding support for an environment variable to disable calling Write-Progress. Something like POSHACME_DISABLE_WRITEPROGRESS.

Yes, this will work, or replace Write-Progress with custom messages, I don't think it brings much value, since people will not run scripts interactively.

[rmbolger]

In retrospect, you're right. This is a tool for automation and progress bars are intended for interactive use. I'm going to push a change to the main branch in a sec that disables Write-Progress by default in place of a once per minute verbose message describing the sleep time remaining. If users want the progress bar back, it will respect an environment variable called POSHACME_SHOW_PROGRESS that can be set to anything not null or an empty string.

[master135]

In retrospect, you're right. This is a tool for automation and progress bars are intended for interactive use. I'm going to push a change to the main branch in a sec that disables Write-Progress by default in place of a once per minute verbose message describing the sleep time remaining. If users want the progress bar back, it will respect an environment variable called POSHACME_SHOW_PROGRESS that can be set to anything not null or an empty string.

Wow, thanks for such quick actions!
Now i feel sorry that i spent time making workarouns)

[rmbolger]

You're very welcome. I appreciate the poke to re-evaluate past decisions. It may be a week or two until a I push a new release with this change included because I'm actively working on a new feature I'm hoping to include in the next release.

[rmbolger]

This is now live in 4.11.0