dotnet lambda deploy-serverless fails, object reference error

[menasheh]

I've made a new project based on the LambdaASP.NETCoreWebAPI template.

I'm trying to get the template application deployed before I spend time developing my API, and it's throwing this error. See full terminal output below.

Versions:
Ubuntu: 17.10
dotnet: 2.1.105
IDE - Rider 2018.1

menasheh@oscar:~/projects/aws-test/LambdaASP.NETCoreWebAPI$ cd LambdaASP.NETCoreWebAPI/src/LambdaASP.NETCoreWebAPI/
menasheh@oscar:~/projects/aws-test/LambdaASP.NETCoreWebAPI/LambdaASP.NETCoreWebAPI/src/LambdaASP.NETCoreWebAPI$ dotnet lambda deploy-serverless
AWS Lambda Tools for .NET Core functions (2.1.1)
Project Home: https://github.com/aws/aws-lambda-dotnet
        
Enter CloudFormation Stack Name: (CloudFormation stack name for an AWS Serverless application)
test-stack
Enter S3 Bucket: (S3 bucket to upload the build output)
test-s3-test-test8
Enter AWS Region: (The region to connect to AWS services, if not set region will be detected from the environment)
us-east-1
Executing publish command
Deleted previous publish folder
... invoking 'dotnet publish', working folder '/home/menasheh/projects/aws-test/LambdaASP.NETCoreWebAPI/LambdaASP.NETCoreWebAPI/src/LambdaASP.NETCoreWebAPI/bin/Release/netcoreapp2.0/publish'
... publish: Microsoft (R) Build Engine version 15.6.84.34536 for .NET Core
... publish: Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
... publish:   Restore completed in 77.35 ms for /home/menasheh/projects/aws-test/LambdaASP.NETCoreWebAPI/LambdaASP.NETCoreWebAPI/src/LambdaASP.NETCoreWebAPI/LambdaASP.NETCoreWebAPI.csproj.
... publish:   Restore completed in 77.35 ms for /home/menasheh/projects/aws-test/LambdaASP.NETCoreWebAPI/LambdaASP.NETCoreWebAPI/src/LambdaASP.NETCoreWebAPI/LambdaASP.NETCoreWebAPI.csproj.
... publish:   Restoring packages for /home/menasheh/projects/aws-test/LambdaASP.NETCoreWebAPI/LambdaASP.NETCoreWebAPI/src/LambdaASP.NETCoreWebAPI/LambdaASP.NETCoreWebAPI.csproj...
... publish:   Restore completed in 1.7 sec for /home/menasheh/projects/aws-test/LambdaASP.NETCoreWebAPI/LambdaASP.NETCoreWebAPI/src/LambdaASP.NETCoreWebAPI/LambdaASP.NETCoreWebAPI.csproj.
... publish:   LambdaASP.NETCoreWebAPI -> /home/menasheh/projects/aws-test/LambdaASP.NETCoreWebAPI/LambdaASP.NETCoreWebAPI/src/LambdaASP.NETCoreWebAPI/bin/Release/netcoreapp2.0/linux-x64/LambdaASP.NETCoreWebAPI.dll
... publish:   LambdaASP.NETCoreWebAPI -> /home/menasheh/projects/aws-test/LambdaASP.NETCoreWebAPI/LambdaASP.NETCoreWebAPI/src/LambdaASP.NETCoreWebAPI/bin/Release/netcoreapp2.0/publish/
Changed permissions on published dll (chmod +r AWSSDK.Core.dll).
Changed permissions on published dll (chmod +r AWSSDK.S3.dll).
Changed permissions on published dll (chmod +r Amazon.Lambda.AspNetCoreServer.dll).
Changed permissions on published dll (chmod +r AWSSDK.Extensions.NETCore.Setup.dll).
Changed permissions on published dll (chmod +r Amazon.Lambda.Serialization.Json.dll).
Changed permissions on published dll (chmod +r LambdaASP.NETCoreWebAPI.dll).
Changed permissions on published dll (chmod +r Amazon.Lambda.Core.dll).
Changed permissions on published dll (chmod +r Amazon.Lambda.Logging.AspNetCore.dll).
Changed permissions on published dll (chmod +r Amazon.Lambda.APIGatewayEvents.dll).
Zipping publish folder /home/menasheh/projects/aws-test/LambdaASP.NETCoreWebAPI/LambdaASP.NETCoreWebAPI/src/LambdaASP.NETCoreWebAPI/bin/Release/netcoreapp2.0/publish to /home/menasheh/projects/aws-test/LambdaASP.NETCoreWebAPI/LambdaASP.NETCoreWebAPI/src/LambdaASP.NETCoreWebAPI/bin/Release/netcoreapp2.0/LambdaASP.NETCoreWebAPI.zip
... zipping:   adding: AWSSDK.Core.dll (deflated 66%)
... zipping:   adding: aws-lambda-tools-defaults.json (deflated 43%)
... zipping:   adding: AWSSDK.S3.dll (deflated 65%)
... zipping:   adding: LambdaASP.NETCoreWebAPI.runtimeconfig.json (deflated 30%)
... zipping:   adding: Amazon.Lambda.AspNetCoreServer.dll (deflated 60%)
... zipping:   adding: appsettings.json (deflated 23%)
... zipping:   adding: LambdaASP.NETCoreWebAPI.deps.json (deflated 85%)
... zipping:   adding: AWSSDK.Extensions.NETCore.Setup.dll (deflated 56%)
... zipping:   adding: Amazon.Lambda.Serialization.Json.dll (deflated 56%)
... zipping:   adding: LambdaASP.NETCoreWebAPI.dll (deflated 55%)
... zipping:   adding: LambdaASP.NETCoreWebAPI.pdb (deflated 45%)
... zipping:   adding: appsettings.Development.json (deflated 7%)
... zipping:   adding: web.config (deflated 35%)
... zipping:   adding: Amazon.Lambda.Core.dll (deflated 57%)
... zipping:   adding: Amazon.Lambda.Logging.AspNetCore.dll (deflated 56%)
... zipping:   adding: Amazon.Lambda.APIGatewayEvents.dll (deflated 60%)
Created publish archive (/home/menasheh/projects/aws-test/LambdaASP.NETCoreWebAPI/LambdaASP.NETCoreWebAPI/src/LambdaASP.NETCoreWebAPI/bin/Release/netcoreapp2.0/LambdaASP.NETCoreWebAPI.zip).
Uploading to S3. (Bucket: test-s3-test-test8 Key: LambdaASP.NETCoreWebAPI/test-stack-636598383011522588.zip)
... Progress: 23%
... Progress: 46%
... Progress: 69%
... Progress: 92%
... Progress: 100%
Uploading to S3. (Bucket: test-s3-test-test8 Key: LambdaASP.NETCoreWebAPI/test-stack-serverless-636598383014756405.template)
... Progress: 100%
Found existing stack: False
Template Parameters Applied:
        ShouldCreateBucket: true
        BucketName: 
CloudFormation change set created
... Waiting for change set to be reviewed
Created CloudFormation stack test-stack
   
Timestamp            Logical Resource Id                      Status                                   
-------------------- ---------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------- 
4/20/18 4:25 PM      test-stack                               CREATE_IN_PROGRESS                      
Unknown error executing AWS Serverless deployment: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
   at Amazon.Lambda.Tools.Commands.DeployServerlessCommand.<WaitStackToCompleteAsync>d__71.MoveNext()
--- End of stack trace from previous location where exception was thrown ---
   at System.Runtime.ExceptionServices.ExceptionDispatchInfo.Throw()
   at System.Runtime.CompilerServices.TaskAwaiter.HandleNonSuccessAndDebuggerNotification(Task task)
   at Amazon.Lambda.Tools.Commands.DeployServerlessCommand.<ExecuteAsync>d__67.MoveNext()
menasheh@oscar:~/projects/aws-test/LambdaASP.NETCoreWebAPI/LambdaASP.NETCoreWebAPI/src/LambdaASP.NETCoreWebAPI$ 

[menasheh]

Giving the IAM user Admin rights fixed this problem.

That's probably not what I should do, anyway, though. What is the proper IAM config for a lambda serverless deployment IAM user?

[normj]

Intersting. I agree you shouldn't not have to give admin permissions to deploy but this does give us some more information to help understand why it is failing for you.

[ashishdhingra]

Hi @menasheh,

Good afternoon.

I was going through the backlog and came across this issue. Based on the research, at high level, in deploying your application, your IAM user will at least need permissions to:

• Create an S3 bucket for your function deployments
• Upload your function zip files to that S3 bucket
• Submit a CloudFormation template
• Create the log groups for your Lambda functions
• Create a REST API in API Gateway
• [any other permissions to create or provision other resources]

Hope this helps. Kindly confirm if you would be able to validate this for your scenario with non-Admin IAM User having relevant permissions.

I agree the deployment process should give appropriate error message though.

Thanks,
Ashish

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