Category: Blog

I wrote recently about the Release agent using the hosted queue as the default, which is sometimes a problem. The Build process has the same issue, though the way you change things is different.

In a build, you see a set of tasks with various menu items across the top, as shown here.

If you click on Options, which will then be underlined, on the right side the Agents options appear. The default, as with releases, is the hosted agent. Change this to another pool if you want local builds.

Microsoft makes this the default for a couple reasons. One, it’s easier. No need to install an agent, which might be an issue for some people. I think it’s simple, but for some teams, you might not want this.

The other reason is that while you get 240 minutes per month, if you’re like me and built often, you can blow by this. Also, I have machines available, so I’d rather build locally, and I wish I could make this a default.

Microsoft wants to make money, and that’s fine. I like the service, and in a commercial environment I’d weight the cost here v purchasing something like TeamCity + add-ons, and then make a decisions. Since I dislike uncertainty, and not knowing the costs, I lean towards local builds always. YMMV.

In keeping with the idea I don’t want this to get out of date, this is VSTS as of Jun 1, 2017. If your screen looks different, find a different article.

I was setting up a test the other day using VSTS (Visual Studio Team Services) and once had something bite me (again). This has happened a few times this year as the service has evolved, but it is one of those things that I keep having to change.

Here’s a new Release definition, where I start with an empty process. I clicked “New Release Definition” and then selected an Empty task, hooking this up to my current CI process.

Usually I add tasks, and then create a release and execute it. Since I mostly work with databases, I’m usually releasing to a local SQL Server instance and want to use my local agents. I have separate ones running on my desktop and laptops, so I can easily demo releases in different environments.

However, when I’ve done this, usually things fail at first. If I’m not paying attention, I won’t notice my build agent looking like this:

That’s the screen showing nothing happening with my agent.

Grouping Tasks in VSTS

Earlier this year, the release process in VSTS changed to allow us to group tasks. I can now add different groups of phases, which I stumbled upon by clicking the arrow next to “Add Tasks”. This is a UI Fail because the arrow in other parts of VSTS is linked to the text to the left (like the Add environment area).

I stumbled on this one day, thinking the arrow let me add tasks, but I accidently added a new agent phase. By default, we have a single agent phase, but clicking the arrow allows more.

What’s also interesting, and not intuitive to me, is that if I click on the “Run on agent” area, I get settings to the right. This is different than the old release section, which had the properties as a global item at the top.

This is where I need to change to the agent queue, in this case, the default for my desktop.

This might not be a big deal, and I’m sure lots of people are happy to use the hosted agent. I’m always wary of costs, so I try to avoid spending compute dollars in Azure when I don’t need to, and this is a place I want to avoid spending $$.

Hopefully, after writing this, I’ll remember to set the queue for my future demos the first time. Now if I can just get the VSTS people to give me a “default” setting I can change…