SCVMM tfs task to restore to check point failure - tfs

We had SCVMM task in our release definitions in order to revert the snapshots, these tasks were working fine until the build agent was upgraded to version 2.112.0.
The task does not complete, the following message "Please wait Restore action is in Progress", seemes to be stuck indefinitely.
We have tried by creating new service endpoint following the instructions published here: https://www.visualstudio.com/en-us/docs/build/apps/cd/restore-vm-in-scvmm
Double checked all the user rights required to preform scvmm operations using tfs, still not able to resolve the issue.

Root cause of the error was that the the build agents could not communicate to SCVMM server, this issue was resolved by maintaining the consistent SCVMM console version among build agent and SCVMM server.

Related

Waiting for an available agent after trying to send a build to a new Build Server

I just created a new Build server and added it to an existing Queue, I turned off the other agents in the queue so that this new build server would get the job. I sent a very simple .NET build but the build window says "Waiting for an available agent"
So I get it, I must have missed installing something on the build server. So when the job is submitted it's looking for an agent that can satisfy the "capabilities" How can I see that what capabilities the job needs so I can see why it's stuck?
As far as I know, if the agent capabilities couldn't meet the build demands, it will show the warning message at the build result or queue time.
For example:
You could try the following points to troubleshooting:
Navigate to Local machine->Service and check if the Visual Studio Team Foundation Background Job Agent is running on the TFS application tier server.
You could start or restart this service.
Make sure the account that the agent is run under is in the Agent Pool Service Account role or Project Collection Build Service Accounts and the account is a domain account.
TFS2015 -> Agent Pool Service Account
TFS2017 TFS2018 ->Project Collection Build Service Accounts
Change another available account for agent service, restart the service.
3.Restart the whole TFS server and check if this do the trick. Need some time to wait.
Here is another ticket with the similar issue, you could refer to it.
Hope this helps.

TFS Build Pipelines not queuing after detach/reattach of collection

We detached one of our main collections and it failed to detach so we restarted it and everything appeared to be fine. But we found this morning that the Build pipelines are not picking up new builds. The build servers are communicating and showing online but nothing is queuing. Anyone ever experience this during a detach/reattach process?
Update
Customer quiesced and unquiesced TFS and that fixed the pipeline issues.
Detach/reattach collection usually will not effect build related.
First, suggest you to take a look at Event View if there are some useful logs for troubleshooting.
If you are using vNext build, check the agent pool and agents which should all be green.
Make sure in your build definition, you have selected the right agent queue. Also try to create an empty build definition with no build task to see if the issue is related to the definition. And also restart your agent service on your TFS server.
Also check if the service Visual Studio Team Foundation Background Job Agent is running. If not, start it manually and try the build again.
Note: The service is running in TFS server, not build server.
For logs to troubleshooting , check the event view and the log in \agent_diag on build agent to see whether there are some useful information.
If you still get this issue, then deploy and configure a totally new build agent. This will help to narrow down the issue.

How do I set up a dedicated TFS build server in TFS 2018?

We are using a server running Windows Server 2012 R2 for our TFS work item management and source control.
But we want to set up a dedicated Build server.
We are running TFS 2018 Update1.
I've downloaded the latest available Build agent and ran the script 'config.cmd' from the dedicated Build Server.
In previous versions of TFS you were at least supposed to run the TFS Installation Wizard if I'm correct to configure the Build Service. But this changed since TFS 2015.
But where can you see that my dedicated server (that I used to run config.cmd) is actually used for executing the Build process?
I cannot really find information on how to install and configure multiple servers for running TFS.
as far as I know running the config.cmd is enough. The machine where the script is executed will then register with the server instance - during the configuraiton you had to specify the TFS Server URL right?
On the Server side, you can go to the Agent Pools (where you initially downloaded the Agent Configuration). After clicking on the Agent Pools on the left-hand side you should see all Agents registered to that Queue. To which Queue your agent belongs was as well specified during the configuration on the agent itself as part of the config.cmd.
If you want to add more agents, you can simply run the config.cmd on other machine and register your agent with the same server instance. It is even possible to have more than one agent on the same physical hardware if you want that.

TFS build/release agents "update all agents" is not updating the agents for TFS on-prem 2017

For on-prem TFS 2017 when I try to update all agents in the agent pools, the update does not happen. I see the same old agent version.
Build servers typically do not have internet connectivity.
Is internet connectivity a pre-requisite for updating on prem build agents?
I had to download the new agent for a machine where I have internet and then copied the files over to a new folder in the build machine and reconfigured the agent from this new folder. After this is done I had 2 agent services - 1 pointing to older folder and 1 pointing to new folder. The service pointing to old folder was started and the new service was in stopped state. Stopped the old service and started the new service.
Is the process different for updating agent version for on-prem TFS?
Even if you have Internet connection, the update may not work.
According to Daniel Steiner there are 2 kinds of agents:
Windows specific agents (version 1.x)
cross platform agents (version 2.x)
In TFS 2017 the Windows specific agents (version 1.x) are deprecated. Thus they won't be updated from the agent queues admin area. So you have to download the agent from tfs (or github) and install it yourself. After initial installation/configuration the agent updates via tfs should work again. It would have been cool if they automated that process or at least said what to do in tfs.
Unfortunately the official docu does not make the whole issue clear enough.
Yes you need internet connectivity for updating on prem build agents.
Each agent automatically updates itself when it runs a task that
requires a newer version of the agent. But if you want to manually
update some agents, right-click the pool, and then click Update all
agents.
All build agents within the selected pool will go offline temporarily and then come back online as soon as they are updated.
Which you have done is manually adding a newly version agent, not updating the agent. There are just two agents in your build server,so you had two agent services.
More details about update agent in on-premise TFS server, you could refer below tutorials:
Updating Your Team Foundation Build Agents
Upgrading TFS 2015 Build Agent

Error when scheduled build in Agent queue tries to sync repository

I am using an TFS agent to schedule some Build using triggers. My issue is that when the build starts it wants to get latest version (sync repository). But I get an unusual error:
I have literally no ideea where to begin, it's like it could reach the server or something.
I could not comment. Hence providing an answer.
Does the account your agent is running under, has rights to the TFS repository mapped in the build?
For more logs check the logs in D:\Kits\agent_diag folder.

Resources