BOSH recreate --no-converge fails with error: undefined method `release' for nil:nilclass

Products

• VMware Tanzu Application Service

Issue/Introduction

You are attempting to recovery a VM in bad state and it encounters a failure using --no-coverge flag. BOSH recreate --no-converge fails with error: undefined method `release' for nil:nilclass 

Reference BOSH convergence document: https://bosh.io/docs/deployment-convergence/

Resolution

When you use --no-converge the instance will based on the current deployed instance state that is recorded in the database. If you encounter this failure undefined method `release' for nil:nilclass then there is a problem with the release for the instance. The no convergence is not an option if you encounter failure. 

Instead of using bosh recreate --no-converge then instead perform a bosh deploy --fix or apply changes via Ops Manager.