"puppetserver gem" command doesn't work from behind a proxy server

Updated description: puppetserver gem command should use system defined proxies http_proxy, https_proxy, no_proxy, HTTP_PROXY, HTTPS_PROXY, and NO_PROXY environment variables if set and notify the user that it is doing so.

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Original Description:

Description

When a puppet master must access the internet via a proxy server, it is not possible to use the puppetserver gem command to install gems.

This command is required to be usable to install gems into the JVM for systems such as hiera-eyaml.

Expected result

puppetserver gem command should use system defined proxies http_proxy, https_proxy environment variables if set and notify the user that it is doing so.

Actual result

puppetserver gem install ... fails with a timeout error when attempting to install gems.

Workaround

http://docs.puppetlabs.com/pe/3.7/release_notes_known_issues.html#installing-gems-when-puppet-server-is-behind-a-proxy-requires-manual-download-of-gems

Take a backup of the file /opt/puppet/share/puppetserver/cli/apps/gem
Edit the file to supply JVM arguments to support http(s) proxies by adding the parameters

• -Dhttps.proxyHost=XXX
• -Dhttp.proxyHost=XXX
• -Dhttp.proxyPort=XXX
• -Dhttps.proxyPort=XXX

Suggested fix

puppetserver 'gem' script defined in /opt/puppet/share/puppetserver/cli/apps/gem should be aware of and re-export formatted (eg with awk) contents of environment variables http_proxy and https_proxy. When doing so it should notify the user by printing a message to the screen.

QA:

Risk Assessment: High
Probability: Medium Low
Severity: High