[BUG]Connect-PnPOnline has a memory leak

[Ambergahill]

Expected behavior

I should be able to run Connect-PnPOnline thousands of times in a row for different SPO URLs without a System.OutOfMemoryException.

Actual behavior

After about 900 to 1,000 times of calling Connect-PnPOnline, I get a System.OutOfMemoryException.

Steps to reproduce behavior

-Create a loop that iterates through 1,000+ valid SPO URLs. (You may be able to cycle through repeat URLs if you don't have 1,000)
-Connect-PnpOnline to each one of the URLs. For me, I am using certificatePath -ClientId -CertificatePassword along with -Tenant and -Url properties.
-Your loop doesn't have to do anything else, but connect. I also tried using Disconnect-PnPOnline afterwards with no luck. Based off of this article (https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/module/sharepoint-pnp/disconnect-pnponline?view=sharepoint-ps), that shouldn't be needed anyway.

What is the version of the Cmdlet module you are running?

1.7.0

Which operating system/environment are you running PnP PowerShell on?

• Windows
• Linux
• MacOS
• Azure Cloud Shell
• Azure Functions
• Other : please specify

[gautamdsheth]

Hi @Ambergahill - can you please try with the latest PnP PowerShell 1.8.0 ? There were some auth related changes , maybe it can help you.

[veronicageek]

@Ambergahill - Please try with the latest version 1.9.0 and reopen if the issue persists.

[gbordier]

I'm still seing this with pnp version 1.9.0 running standard mcr powershell linux container (psh v7.2.1 / Linux 5.4.81-microsoft-standard #1 SMP ) looping through sharepoint sites only using connect-pnponline with a certificate as credential.

[Ambergahill]

Thank you @gbordier. I am also still seeing the issue in 1.9.0. @veronicageek , please reopen the the issue.

[gbordier]

@veronicageek simple repro without even changing the URL (does not repro on windows)

$cert=@"
MIIJ ------ Base64 encoded Pfx Content Here -------- EtNO
"@

$tenant="xxxx"
$AppID="AppID for AAD app with PNP rigts"

new-object System.Security.Cryptography.X509Certificates.X509Certificate2 -ArgumentList @([System.Convert]::FromBase64String( $cert),"")

for($i=0;$i -lt 100000 ; $i++) {
Connect-PnPOnline -Url "https://$tenant-admin.sharepoint.com" -CertificateBase64Encoded $cert -ClientId $AppID -Tenant $tenant.onmicrosoft.com
if ($i % 1000 -eq 0) {
write-host $i
}
}

[gbordier]

looks like I can narrow this down to the Telemetry part.
Telemetry does not get disabled only with PNPPOWERSHELL_DISABLETELEMETRY=true because of a logic bug in InitializeTelemetry (we need the .pnppowershelltelemetry in the users home folder present and empty to really disable telemetry)
I'll be submiting a PR for this.

the leak seems to be in the Telemetry activation code I'll try to narrow it further down.

[gbordier]

@veronicageek can someone have a look on the InitializeTelemetry method, should the ApplicationInsights member be static to avoid creating one for each connect-pnponline command issued ?

[veronicageek]

I'll tag @gautamdsheth and @KoenZomers if they have any insights

[gbordier]

it looks like it is a known issue with TelemetryClient that it should be implemented as a singleton, but I would welcome insights before submitting such a change : ) ref : https://briancaos.wordpress.com/2020/05/07/c-azure-telemetryclient-will-leak-memory-if-not-implemented-as-a-singleton/

[gautamdsheth]

@gbordier - thanks for looking into this. Looks like you are right, could you please submit a PR, we can check the implementation, much appreciated :)