Azure-docs: ConfigurationArguments.NodeConfigurationName is not required, and including it causes registration to fail

[arnoschuring]

Like other commenters, I have have been fighting the inconsistent documentation and lack of debugging capability of the Azure DSC registration process. First I've been getting Unauthorized responses from the Azure DSC Server, then BadRequest. I believe that the Unauthorized responses have been caused by incorrect handling of the PrivateSettingsRef:registrationKeyPrivate reference as shown in the example here, because I was able to solve that by moving the RegistrationKey entirely to ProtectedSettings. The BadRequest responses appear to have been caused by including NodeConfigurationName at all, because I could solve that error by removing it. No other value for NodeConfigurationName worked, whether empty string, VM hostname, existing configuration name or multiple values.

So for completeness sake, the only configuration structure that appears to work reliably is this:

"protectedSettings": {
   "configurationArguments": {
      "registrationKey": {
         "userName": "unused",
         "password": "[parameters('dsc_registrationkey')]"
      }
   }
},
"settings": {
   "configurationArguments": {
      "registrationUrl": "[parameters('dsc_registrationurl')]"
   }
}

This is also alluded to here: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/43679519/dsc-automation-doesnt-run-until-instance-has-been-restarted-but-says-its-comp#43689065

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Document Details

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• ID: a4ebf9bf-fb61-e694-1711-4fa00fc8a875
• Version Independent ID: c0b1ab45-6775-b84b-09fa-c77709bbb5d0
• Content: Desired State Configuration extension with Azure Resource Manager templates
• Content Source: articles/virtual-machines/extensions/dsc-template.md
• Service: virtual-machines-windows
• GitHub Login: @DCtheGeek
• Microsoft Alias: dacoulte

[mimckitt]

Thanks for the feedback! We are currently investigating and will update you shortly.

[mimckitt]

Thanks for pointing this out @arnoschuring. I will assign to the author to review and update.

@DCtheGeek can you take a look?

[DdenBraver]

Using a node configuration name is working for me, however the examples in the documentation are way off. I created a new pull request to adjust this issue: #10553

@MicahMcKittrick-MSFT @arnoschuring

Using this code it should work:
https://gist.github.com/DdenBraver/20aef2049e892789037fd926fec522ce

[DCtheGeek]

@arnoschuring Sorry for the delay. The complete update to this article will get published tomorrow. If you feel something is still incorrect or missing, feel free to re-open this Issue or create a new one. Thank you again for your feedback!