Certificate Step Template Parameter not expanded?

tcochran · 30 June 2022 19:17

Currently we are trying to create a step template that adds a Trusted CA Cert to centos machines.
Its setup and works by: Selecting a Target (Centos machine), selecting certificate to import, and writing out the download path.

The script runs successfully and creates a .crt file but when going to machine the .crt file is empty with nothing. It seems like the issue stated here

github.com/OctopusDeploy/Issues

Certificate Step Template Parameter not expanded

opened 11:27PM - 29 Mar 17 UTC

closed 11:56PM - 15 May 17 UTC

MJRichardson

kind/bug feature/certificates

## Description When a Step Template has a parameter of type Certificate, and …a certificate is bound directly to the parameter (i.e. not via a variable) then the expanded Certificate properties are not available in the step. ![certificate_step_template_parameter](https://cloud.githubusercontent.com/assets/113759/24480853/0536cf4a-152a-11e7-893e-e4e322f239c9.jpg) ![certificate_step_template_parameter_usage](https://cloud.githubusercontent.com/assets/113759/24480881/4d2b215c-152a-11e7-87df-3ee2d548ef6f.png) The value of the following will be empty: ```powershell Write-Host $OctopusParameters["A.Certificate.Thumbprint"] ``` As reported by: https://secure.helpscout.net/conversation/340936632?folderId=571733 (private link) ## Work-around The work-around is to create a [certificate variable](https://octopus.com/docs/deploying-applications/variables/certificate-variables) in the project with the same name as the step template is expecting. The step template should then work as expected. ## Technical Reason When using a Step Template, Certificate parameters display the certificate-selector. The ID of the selected certificate is stuffed into the property-bag for the step. The properties do not have types (as variables do), so it is never expanded. ## Proposed Solution The `action-template-field` control is used by both Step Templates and Tenant Variables. The current implementation of Certificate parameters works fine for Tenant Variables, as the selected certificate is stored as a variable of type Certificate, and is later expanded. The proposed solution is to display certificate parameters differently, depending on which context they are being used in. For Tenant Variables, it will continue to display the certificate-selector. For Step Template Parameters if will instead display the Certificate _Variable_ selector, forcing the user to select a Certificate Variable (which will obviously be expanded). So the value of the parameter in the Step Template will be the _name of a variable_. **Example:** A Script Step Template has a Certificate Parameter named `CertificateX`. The certificate thumbprint property would be accessed as ```powershell $thumbprint = $OctopusParameters[$CertificateX + ".Thumbprint"] ```

But I saw that issue was fixed in 13.3.4 and we are on version 2022.1.2584.

Here is our script below:

Kenneth_Bates · 1 July 2022 05:12

Hi @tcochran,

Thanks for getting in touch! I’m sorry to see you’re hitting this unexpected behavior. I’ve done some testing here, and while it ended up working successfully and as expected when adding the step template to a project’s deployment process, I did see some incorrect results when running the step template standalone.

What I saw locally when running the step template was certificate parameters not populating certificates for selection for that parameter. I added this issue to a bug report I raised earlier in the same area.

github.com/OctopusDeploy/Issues

Running standalone step template doesn't automatically fill sensitive parameter's default value at run

opened 06:27AM - 06 Jun 22 UTC

KennethBates

kind/bug feature/step-templates area/steps state/triage

### Team - [X] I've assigned a team label to this issue ### Severity One repo…rt with workaround ### Version 2022.2.5111 ### Latest Version _No response_ ### What happened? When running a step template that has a sensitive parameter with a default value, that parameter's default value doesn't automatically populate on the run page, requiring you to re-input the required value. ### Reproduction 1) Create a step template with a sensitive parameter that has a default value ![image](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/20388190/172106980-74df119f-e6bf-41df-aa12-a6ac7a5113a2.png) 2) Attempt to run the step template ![image](https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/20388190/172107035-8aecb6d3-ae16-4387-a17a-bd7abcd0607a.png) Note the default value doesn't populate. ### Error and Stacktrace _No response_ ### More Information Report: https://octopus.zendesk.com/agent/tickets/90364 (internal) ### Workaround - Re-input the default value - Add the step template to a process, and when running it'll automatically pick up the default sensitive value.

When adding this template to a project, the expanded properties (CertificatePem) does exist and writes to the .crt file created in the script.

Could you let me know how you’re running this step template? E.g. standalone from the step template itself, or is it included in a project’s deployment? Would you be willing to share task logs from a run that’s showing this issue? Hopefully we can figure out what’s causing this issue with that additional information.

Best regards,

Kenny

tcochran · 1 July 2022 16:49

Thanks for the response,

I am running it standalone from the step template itself. I could try from projects deployment but need to consult with my team on that next week.

task log:
ServerTasks-765321.log.txt (5.2 KB)

tcochran · 6 July 2022 15:38

Ok, so tested script in a runbook for a project and it worked properly. It would be cool if it worked standalone but this works for now. Thanks again for the help.