[Bug]: Export-NavContainerDatabasesAsBacpac is failing

[RonKoppelaar]

BCContainerhelper version

6.1.13

Describe the issue

Since latest changes in bccontainerhelper 6.1.13 the cmdlet Export-NavContainerDatabasesAsBacpac starts to fail. Already noticed last week when running preview build: 6.1.13-preview2340432

Workaround
Encapsulated the cmd with:
$bcContainerHelperConfig.usePwshForBc24 = $false
Export-NavContainerDatabasesAsBacpac
$bcContainerHelperConfig.usePwshForBc24 = $true

Command or script used to produce the issue

            Export-NavContainerDatabasesAsBacpac `
                -ContainerName $ContainerNameMultiTenant `
                -tenant @() `
                -sqlCredential $buildCredential `
                -bacpacFolder $PathToBackup `
                -doNotCheckEntitlements:$true

Full output of the command or script

Exception Script Stack Trace:
at Invoke-SqlCmd, C:\run\pscoreoverrides.ps1: line 1
at Invoke-SqlCmdWithRetry, C:\run\HelperFunctions.ps1: line 446
at Test-NavDatabase, C:\run\HelperFunctions.ps1: line 290
at Copy-NavDatabase, C:\run\HelperFunctions.ps1: line 180
at , : line 414

PowerShell Call Stack:
at Invoke-ScriptInBcContainer, C:\agent3\PSModules\BcContainerHelper\6.1.13\ContainerHandling\Invoke-ScriptInNavContainer.ps1: line 82
at Export-BcContainerDatabasesAsBacpac, C:\agent3\PSModules\BcContainerHelper\6.1.13\Bacpac\Export-NavContainerDatabasesAsBacpac.ps1: line 70
at Export-cdsaMultitenantBacpac, C:\agent3\PSModules\cdsa.build.al\1.0.250414\public\container\Export-cdsaMultitenantBacpac.ps1: line 55
at , C:\agent3_work\5\s\ERP.Builds\ERP AL\Invoke-FullBuild-PostBuild.ps1: line 78
at , : line 1
at , C:\agent3_work_tasks\AzurePowerShell_72a1931b-effb-4d2e-8fd8-f8472a07cb62\4.272.7\azurepowershell.ps1: line 261
at , C:\agent3_work_tasks\AzurePowerShell_72a1931b-effb-4d2e-8fd8-f8472a07cb62\4.272.7\azurepowershell.ps1: line 257
at , : line 1
at , : line 22
at , : line 18
at , : line 1

Container Free Physical Memory: 68.6Gb
Disk C: Free 122Gb from 127Gb

Services in container C251321PostBuild-MULTI:

• MicrosoftDynamicsNavServer$BC is Running
• MSSQL$SQLEXPRESS is Running

Export-NavContainerDatabasesAsBacpac Telemetry Correlation Id: f2add044-6977-478c-84c9-007be5a64b1a

Additional information

No response

Does this happen every time?

Yes

Did this used to work?

Yes

[RonKoppelaar]

I asked my agent what causes the break...

This confirms it precisely. The commit f929f6b (merged into 6.1.13) is the exact cause:

What changed:

When usePwsh = $true (the default) and the container is BC28+, useSession is now forced to $false — meaning docker exec is used instead of a PS session
Docker exec then picks pwsh (since usePwsh = $true and BC version ≥ 24)
Inside the container, pwsh hits C:\run\pscoreoverrides.ps1 which overrides Invoke-SqlCmd and requires the SqlServer module — which isn't available in PS7 inside the container
In 6.1.12, BC28+ containers still used a PS session where usePwsh only controlled which shell opened the session, not the shell that ran the SQL commands. The SQL work happened inside an already-running Windows PowerShell session in the container where Invoke-SqlCmd was natively available.

So your fix — setting $bcContainerHelperConfig.usePwshForBc24 = $false around the deonline export — is exactly right. With $false, usePwsh = $false is passed to Invoke-ScriptInNavContainer, which skips the BC28 session-disable check entirely, and docker exec uses powershell.exe (PS5) where Invoke-SqlCmd works natively.

[aholstrup1]

Ron Koppelaar (@RonKoppelaar) Which version of BC is the container provisioned on? The same thing works if you run on BCContainerHelper 6.1.12?

This confirms it precisely. The commit f929f6b (merged into 6.1.13) is the exact cause:

The change your mentioned here was shipped in 6.1.12 so if that version works for you, there might be a different root cause :) Could you try running with $bcContainerHelperConfig.debugMode = $true and include the logs for that? That might be able to tell us if this is a session issue.

[RonKoppelaar]

Please find attached the logfile with a repro on containerhelper 6.1.12 without usepwsh flags set and with $bcContainerHelperConfig.debugMode = $true

support.log