Document troubleshooting of `Argument Error: invalid base64`

[sigalsax]

Summary

When deploying Conjur as per the instructions, if CONJUR_DATA_KEY is not valid when starting Conjur container, you may get the following error:

rake aborted!
ArgumentError: invalid base64
/opt/conjur-server/config/initializers/authenticator.rb:16:in `<top (required)>'
...

AC:

• [ ] We provide better UX or documentation for this common pitfall

[hertus]

Had the same with a wrong "CONJUR_DATA_KEY" env variable for the conjur container which had a non-BASE64 conform string in it. Fixed with correct CONJUR_DATA_KEY generated from 'conjur data-key generate'

rake aborted!,
ArgumentError: invalid base64,
/opt/conjur-server/config/initializers/authenticator.rb:16:in `<top (required)>',
/var/lib/gems/2.5.0/gems/activesupport-4.2.11/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:268:in `load',
/var/lib/gems/2.5.0/gems/activesupport-4.2.11/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:268:in `block in load',
/var/lib/gems/2.5.0/gems/activesupport-4.2.11/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:240:in `load_dependency',
/var/lib/gems/2.5.0/gems/activesupport-4.2.11/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:268:in `load',
/var/lib/gems/2.5.0/gems/railties-4.2.11/lib/rails/engine.rb:652:in `block in load_config_initializer',
/var/lib/gems/2.5.0/gems/activesupport-4.2.11/lib/active_support/notifications.rb:166:in `instrument',
/var/lib/gems/2.5.0/gems/railties-4.2.11/lib/rails/engine.rb:651:in `load_config_initializer',
/var/lib/gems/2.5.0/gems/railties-4.2.11/lib/rails/engine.rb:616:in `block (2 levels) in <class:Engine>',
/var/lib/gems/2.5.0/gems/railties-4.2.11/lib/rails/engine.rb:615:in `each',
/var/lib/gems/2.5.0/gems/railties-4.2.11/lib/rails/engine.rb:615:in `block in <class:Engine>',
/var/lib/gems/2.5.0/gems/railties-4.2.11/lib/rails/initializable.rb:30:in `instance_exec',
/var/lib/gems/2.5.0/gems/railties-4.2.11/lib/rails/initializable.rb:30:in `run',
/var/lib/gems/2.5.0/gems/railties-4.2.11/lib/rails/initializable.rb:55:in `block in run_initializers',
/var/lib/gems/2.5.0/gems/railties-4.2.11/lib/rails/initializable.rb:44:in `each',
/var/lib/gems/2.5.0/gems/railties-4.2.11/lib/rails/initializable.rb:44:in `tsort_each_child',
/var/lib/gems/2.5.0/gems/railties-4.2.11/lib/rails/initializable.rb:54:in `run_initializers',
/var/lib/gems/2.5.0/gems/railties-4.2.11/lib/rails/application.rb:352:in `initialize!',
/opt/conjur-server/config/environment.rb:19:in `<top (required)>',
/var/lib/gems/2.5.0/gems/activesupport-4.2.11/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:274:in `require',
/var/lib/gems/2.5.0/gems/activesupport-4.2.11/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:274:in `block in require',
/var/lib/gems/2.5.0/gems/activesupport-4.2.11/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:240:in `load_dependency',
/var/lib/gems/2.5.0/gems/activesupport-4.2.11/lib/active_support/dependencies.rb:274:in `require',
/var/lib/gems/2.5.0/gems/railties-4.2.11/lib/rails/application.rb:328:in `require_environment!',
/var/lib/gems/2.5.0/gems/railties-4.2.11/lib/rails/application.rb:457:in `block in run_tasks_blocks',
Tasks: TOP => db:migrate => db:migrate:load => environment,
(See full trace by running task with --trace),
error: exit,

[sgnn7]

@sigalsax: @hertus is correct so I'll change this story to be centered around documenting common failure issues.

[ravics09]

I run the below command to set master key as environment variable on windows 10.

set CONJUR_DATA_KEY="$(< data_key)"

After that conjur/server restarting and not able to generate conjur account .

[izgeri]

We do have a troubleshooting section in our README now - we should probably add the common failure modes around the Conjur data key to that section at this point.

@ravics09 are you experiencing an issue with your server? Since this issue is specifically about adding troubleshooting documentation, if you have an issue not covered by the proposed documentation, I'd encourage you to file a separate issue in this project that describes your problem. You can also post on discourse - we'd be happy to chat about your setup there.

[szh]

I'm going to close this since it's old and may not be relevant anymore. Please reopen if it's still an issue.