TFPT command executed via "Run Command Line" succeed but change sets are not fully downloaded on agents.

Products

• CA Release Automation - Release Operations Center (Nolio)

Issue/Introduction

Dear Team,

We are unable to do deployment with change set/without change set but files are not deployed and not shows any error. It's shows as completed in the RA Tool. Please find the attached logs.

Environment

Release : 6.X

Component : CA RELEASE AUTOMATION CORE

Cause

The cause of the behavior described below include understanding of responsibility(sequencing) of each action.

• RA Action (Run command Line)-> 1) call TFPT => 2) TFPT download change set => 3) TFPT command returns status code => 4) RA action matches status code if any and decide if action failed or pass.
• TFPT -> 1) Get change set from TFS server => 2) return status of command execution

Considering above logical flow, from RA perspective, TFPT command returns success(Return 0), no error. Therefore from RA action perspective the action completed with success. Refer log below for more details

2022-03-01 21:26:53,659 - Starting Action Staging(P10844.F103124.E103132) 
 Action Type: Run Command Line 
 Pause on Fail: true 
 Input fields:  
  Command Line String  =  tfpt getcs  -changeset:359434375 /force /overwrite "/login:*****,*****" 
  Work Directory  =  C:\directory_path
  Environment Variables Names =  [PATH] 
  Environment Variables Values =  [%SystemRoot%\system32;***********************;C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Team Foundation Server 2010 Power Tools;] 
  Wait For Process To Finish  =  true 
  Time Out Duration  =  0 
  Std Out File Path  =  null 
  Std Err File Path  =  null 
  Expected Return Value  =  null 
  Success Return List  =  true 
  Expected Return Values  =  null 
  Overwrite Files  =  true 
=================================================================================================
2022-03-01 21:26:57,020 - Ending Action Staging(P10844.F103124.E103132) 
 Action Type: Run Command Line 
 Action State: true 
 Action Description: Run Command Line action has finished successfully.<BR>Return value: 0<BR>Std out: Getting the changes in changeset 35975...
 edit: $*****************PVT_PACKAGE.sql
 edit: $****************************.dll
 edit: $****************************.dll
 edit: $ABC*************************.dll
 edit: $/*********************config.dll
 edit: $/DIRECTORY_PATH/C<BR>Std err: <BR>Command line executed: tfpt getcs  -changeset:359434375  /force /overwrite "/login:********,*****"<BR> 

Resolution

• Not an issue with RA action it is calling command line and based on it's return status i.e. 0(success) it reflect action passed. 
• Correct the bad action configuration, change your RA action to have check for expected status code and determine if action passed or failed based on 0 and non-zero return codes.

Recommendation

• Check with TFS administrator to understand this intermittent behavior of TFPT(TFS Power Tool) utility.
• Check with Microsoft Support on TFPT behavior i.e. intermittent fail to download change set