Cloudformation Init config files not writing the files - amazon-web-services

Question

I am using AWS Cloudformation scripts to bring up a Auto-scaling Ec2 Instance - sample code provided below
"GatewayLabAutoScalingGroup": {
"Metadata": {
"AWS::CloudFormation::Init": {
"config": {
"commands": {
"a_install_pip": {
"command": "pip install requests boto3"
},
"c_restart_cron": {
"command": "service crond restart"
},
"d_restart_cfn_hup": {
"command": "service cfn-hup restart"
}
},
"files": {
"/etc/cfn/cfn-hup.conf": {
"content": {
"Fn::Join": [
"",
[
"[main]\nstack=",
{
"Ref": "AWS::StackName"
},
"\nregion=",
{
"Ref": "AWS::Region"
},
"\nverbose=true\ninterval=1\n"
]
]
},
"group": "root",
"mode": "000644",
"owner": "root"
},
"/usr/local/sbin/join_ad_script.sh": {
"content": {
"Fn::Join": [
"",
[
"sudo yum -y update\nsudo yum -y install sssd realmd krb5-workstation\nsudo realm leave\n\nDOMAIN=\"",
{
"Ref": "SimpleADDomain"
},
"\"\n\ncat <<EOF > /etc/resolv.conf\nnameserver ",
{
"Fn::Select": [
0,
{
"Fn::GetAtt": [
"WorkspacesSimplead",
"DnsIpAddresses"
]
}
]
},
"\nnameserver ",
{
"Fn::Select": [
1,
{
"Fn::GetAtt": [
"WorkspacesSimplead",
"DnsIpAddresses"
]
}
]
},
"\nEOF\n\n# empty all current sssd cache\nsss_cache -E\n\necho ",
{
"Ref": "SimpleADPassword"
},
" | sudo realm join -U Administrator#${DOMAIN^^} ${DOMAIN^^} --verbose\nsudo sed -re 's/^(PasswordAuthentication)([[:space:]]+)no/\\1\\2yes/' -i.`date -I` /etc/ssh/sshd_config\necho \"enumerate=true\" >> /etc/sssd/sssd.conf\nsudo service sssd restart\nsudo service sshd restart\n\n# empty all current sssd cache\nsss_cache -E\n"
]
]
},
"group": "root",
"mode": "000755",
"owner": "root"
}
}
}
}
},
"Properties": {
"AvailabilityZones": [
{
"Fn::Select": [
0,
{
"Fn::GetAZs": ""
}
]
}
],
"HealthCheckGracePeriod": 300,
"HealthCheckType": "EC2",
"LaunchConfigurationName": {
"Ref": "GatewayLabLaunchConfiguration"
},
"LoadBalancerNames": [
],
"MaxSize": 2,
"MinSize": 1,
"Tags": [
{
"Key": "Name",
"PropagateAtLaunch": true,
"Value": "hub-autoscaling"
}
}
],
"VPCZoneIdentifier": [
{
"Ref": "EC2SubnetSubnet1"
}
]
},
"Type": "AWS::AutoScaling::AutoScalingGroup",
"UpdatePolicy": {
"AutoScalingRollingUpdate": {
"MaxBatchSize": 1,
"MinInstancesInService": 1,
"PauseTime": "PT60S"
}
}
}
The files are not written to in the instance
The instance is coming up in a Private VPC
We have a proxy configured on port 8080
The works fine when the instance is connected to a NAT Gateway without a proxy
I do have ports 80, 22 & 443 opened up

Answer 1

the userdata statements are run initially
They then call the cfn-init scripts
There were some errors in the scripts and they never completed; one of the problems as mentioned above was my instance behind a proxy
Getting the proxy configuration in as part of the UserData helped