TFS: Connector Error undefined method upcase

Products

• CA Agile Central On Premise (Rally)
• CA Agile Central SaaS (Rally)

Issue/Introduction

The connector does not synchronize data and the following error is seen in the log:

[2018-06-29 13:58:29 Z] ERROR : RallyEIF::WRK::ConnectorRunner.rescue in run_services - Unexpected exception occurred
[2018-06-29 13:58:29 Z] ERROR : RallyEIF::WRK::ConnectorRunner.exception - Message undefined method `upcase' for nil:NilClass 
[2018-06-29 13:58:29 Z] ERROR : RallyEIF::WRK::ConnectorRunner.exception - Stack Trace 
[2018-06-29 13:58:29 Z] ERROR : RallyEIF::WRK::ConnectorRunner.block in exception - C:/Ruby22-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.2.0/gems/rallyeif-wrk-1.3.0/lib/rallyeif/wrk/connector_runner.rb:399:in `process_service' 
[2018-06-29 13:58:29 Z] ERROR : RallyEIF::WRK::ConnectorRunner.block in exception - C:/Ruby22-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.2.0/gems/rallyeif-wrk-1.3.0/lib/rallyeif/wrk/connector_runner.rb:529:in `block in run_services' 
[2018-06-29 13:58:29 Z] ERROR : RallyEIF::WRK::ConnectorRunner.block in exception - C:/Ruby22-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.2.0/gems/rallyeif-wrk-1.3.0/lib/rallyeif/wrk/connector_runner.rb:528:in `each' 
[2018-06-29 13:58:29 Z] ERROR : RallyEIF::WRK::ConnectorRunner.block in exception - C:/Ruby22-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.2.0/gems/rallyeif-wrk-1.3.0/lib/rallyeif/wrk/connector_runner.rb:528:in `run_services' 
[2018-06-29 13:58:29 Z] ERROR : RallyEIF::WRK::ConnectorRunner.block in exception - C:/Ruby22-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.2.0/gems/rallyeif-wrk-1.3.0/lib/rallyeif/wrk/connector_runner.rb:347:in `block in run' 
[2018-06-29 13:58:29 Z] ERROR : RallyEIF::WRK::ConnectorRunner.block in exception - C:/Ruby22-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.2.0/gems/rallyeif-wrk-1.3.0/lib/rallyeif/wrk/connector_runner.rb:286:in `each' 
[2018-06-29 13:58:29 Z] ERROR : RallyEIF::WRK::ConnectorRunner.block in exception - C:/Ruby22-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.2.0/gems/rallyeif-wrk-1.3.0/lib/rallyeif/wrk/connector_runner.rb:286:in `run' 
[2018-06-29 13:58:29 Z] ERROR : RallyEIF::WRK::ConnectorRunner.block in exception - C:/Ruby22-x64/lib/ruby/gems/2.2.0/gems/rallyeif-tfs-4.8.0/bin/ca_agile_central2_tfs_connector.rb:12:in `<top (required)>' 
[2018-06-29 13:58:29 Z] ERROR : RallyEIF::WRK::ConnectorRunner.block in exception - C:/Ruby22-x64/bin/ca_agile_central2_tfs_connector.rb:23:in `load' 
[2018-06-29 13:58:29 Z] ERROR : RallyEIF::WRK::ConnectorRunner.block in exception - C:/Ruby22-x64/bin/ca_agile_central2_tfs_connector.rb:23:in `<main>' 

Environment

Release:
Component: ACSAAS

Cause

This is caused by not including <Instance> tags with a TFS server.

The log file shows a warning at the beginning that hints at this:

TFS configuration in the config file is missing 'instance' property (aka virtual directory) normally required for interaction with TFS

Resolution

Update your config file and add the <Instance> tags.

If you do not have an instance, a workaround is to use <Instance>/</Instance>

Additional Information

When upgrading from TFS 2013 to 2017 there are cases where the instance is removed, so it is possible that there was a valid instance reference in a previous version which will no longer work in the newer version.