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Triage for dotnet/aspire#9855 by afscrome - Persistent Container start time should show original start time, not app host start time #1137

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Triage for dotnet/aspire#9855.
Repo filter: area-dashboard issues.
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dotnet/aspire#9855: Persistent Container start time should show original start time, not app host start time by afscrome
[Tool] Searching for container start time, persistent container start time, dashboard start time, container status dashboard, app host container start time (IncludeOpen=True, IncludeClosed=True, IncludeIssues=True, IncludePullRequests=True, Repository=dotnet/aspire)
[Tool] Found 65 issues, 21 comments, 65 returned results (9059 ms)

Here are the most relevant related issues and discussions for issue #9855, "Persistent Container start time should show original start time, not app host start time":


Highly Relevant Issues and PRs

1. PR #6095 (October 2024) - Show persistent containers in the dashboard

  • Summary: This PR added a property to container resources to model their lifetime and display persistent containers differently in the dashboard. It included UI changes to indicate persistent containers and their lifetimes.
  • Relevance: While it improved the dashboard's display of persistent containers, it does not mention any changes to how the "Start Time" is determined or displayed for persistent containers. The focus was on lifetime and UI glyphs.

2. PR #9471 (May 2025) - Use orchestrator container delay start feature for better WithExplicitStart + ContainerLifetime.Persistent support

  • Summary: This PR improved support for persistent containers with explicit start, ensuring that existing containers are reused and not recreated, and that delayed start is handled correctly.
  • Relevance: The PR description notes that DCP will check for an existing valid container and transition the resource to running if one is found, but does not mention how the start time is handled or displayed in the dashboard.

3. PR #5354 (August 2024) - Persistent container support

  • Summary: Introduced the concept of persistent containers, allowing containers to outlive the AppHost and be reused across runs.
  • Relevance: The PR and its discussion focus on the mechanics of persistent containers, but do not address the dashboard's "Start Time" column or its accuracy for persistent containers.

4. Issue #5947 (September 2024) - Add dashboard UX showing that a container is persistent

  • Summary: Requested a dashboard glyph and tooltip to indicate persistent containers.
  • Relevance: This was implemented in PR #6095, but again, the focus is on UI indication, not the start time value.

5. PR #5852 (September 2024) - Add stop time to resource properties

  • Summary: Changed the dashboard to use the container's start date (not creation date) for the "Start Time" column, and added a stop time property.
  • Relevance: A comment by @JamesNK asks: "Should we display create and startup time in the properties, or would that just be confusing? I think they would only display different values if we support starting a docker container without recreating it." This suggests that the dashboard currently uses the start time from when the container is started, not when it was originally created, and that the distinction is only relevant for persistent containers.

Moderately Relevant Issues

6. Issue #5308 (August 2024) - After successfully publishing an Aspire project, the Container app Start time doesn't match the current time after restarting the project in the 'Aspire Dashboard'

  • Summary: Reports that after restarting a container app, the start time does not match the current time.
  • Relevance: A comment from @snehapar9 (January 2025) says: "the 9.0 version should only display the container app start time and will not change during re-starts. Can you validate in any of these regions..." This suggests that the intended behavior is for the start time to reflect the actual container start, not the dashboard/app host start, but this may only apply to certain environments (e.g., Azure Container Apps).

7. Issue #7213 (January 2025) - Aspire Dashboard is not showing the updated start time and Actions (Stop/Start) only working from Dashboard. (Multiple Bugs)

  • Summary: Reports that the start time is not updated on new deployment and does not update when stopping/starting containers.
  • Relevance: This is the inverse of your issue (start time not updating when it should), but it shows that the start time logic in the dashboard has been a source of confusion and bugs.

8. PR #2152 (February 2024) - Display "start time" in local time, not UTC, and omit date if today

  • Summary: Changed the dashboard to display start time in local time.
  • Relevance: Not directly related to persistent containers, but shows ongoing work on how start time is displayed.

9. Issue #6891 (December 2024) - Persistent container recreated in every test run

  • Summary: Reports that persistent containers are not being reused as expected in test runs.
  • Relevance: Focuses on container reuse, not start time display.

10. Issue #7278 (January 2025) - Suggestions for better persistent containers implementation

  • Summary: Discusses the challenges of persistent container state and configuration.
  • Relevance: Touches on persistent container lifecycle, but not dashboard start time.

Summary and Conclusions

  • There is no direct evidence that the dashboard currently displays the original start time of a persistent container if the AppHost is restarted. In fact, PR #5852 and its comments suggest that the dashboard uses the container's start time as reported by the orchestrator, which may be reset when the AppHost restarts, especially if the resource is reattached rather than recreated.
  • The closest related discussion is in PR #5852, where the distinction between creation time and start time is mentioned, and the need to display both is raised if containers can be started without being recreated (i.e., persistent containers).
  • Issue #5308 and its comment suggest that in some environments (e.g., Azure Container Apps), the start time is intended to persist across restarts, but this may not be the case for local Docker/Podman scenarios.
  • There is no evidence that this specific bug (dashboard showing AppHost start time instead of persistent container's original start time) has been reported or fixed before.

Recommendation

  • This is a valid new issue. The dashboard's "Start Time" for persistent containers should reflect the original container start time, not the AppHost's start time, and this is not currently the case.
  • Reference PR #5852 and its discussion for context on how start time is currently determined and displayed.
  • Consider linking to Issue #5308 for a related (but not identical) scenario in Azure Container Apps.

Let me know if you need a more detailed summary of any specific discussion!

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