TFS build / release agent "upgrade all agents" does not upgrade agents for TFS on-prem 2017
For on-prem TFS 2017, when I try to update all agents in agent pools, no update happens. I see the same old version of the agent.
Build servers usually do not have an Internet connection.
Is internet connection required to update prebuild agents?
I had to download a new agent for a machine that I have internet on and then copied the files to a new folder on the build machine and reconfigured the agent from that new folder. After that I had 2 agent services - 1 pointing to the older folder and 1 pointing to the new folder. The service pointing to the old folder was started and the new service was stopped. Stopped the old service and started the new service.
Is the process different to upgrade the agent version for on-prem TFS?
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Yes, you need an internet connection to update prebuild agents.
Each agent is automatically updated when it starts a task that requires a newer version of the agent. But if you want to manually update some of the agents, right-click the pool and select Update All. agents.
All build agents in the selected pool will be temporarily disabled offline and then brought back online as soon as they are updated.
What you did was manually add the new version of the agent, not update the agent. Your build server has only two agents, so you have two agent services.
You can find more information about Update Agent on a local TFS server below:
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Even if you have an Internet connection, the update may not work.
According to Daniel Steiner, there are 2 types of agents:
- Windows Special Agents (version 1.x)
- cross-platform agents (version 2.x)
Windows Special Agents (version 1.x) are deprecated in TFS 2017. Thus, they will not be updated from the agent queue administration area. So you need to download the agent from tfs (or github ) and install it yourself. After initial installation / configuration, agent updates via tfs should work again. It would be great if they automate this process, or at least tell you what to do in tfs.
Unfortunately, the whitepaper doesn't make the whole issue clear enough.
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