Tag Archives: Octopus Deploy Pro Tip

Setting up continuous deployments with Octopus Deploy and TFS

August 13, 2015 by ianpaullin
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One reader asked in my Octo.exe deep dive if I had published how to setup continuous deployments. I had mentioned it in the deep dive and while I’d rather do a comprehensive piece to see how many different ways we could set up a continuous deployment, a simple post on how to setup continuous deployments in TFS is just as effective for the mean time. Let’s jump right in. Whether you’re using your own TFS 2013 server or Visual Studio online (VSO), you can use the octo.exe to Continue reading →

From the frontline: Upgrading the Octopus Deploy Server

July 14, 2015 by ianpaullin
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Note: I’ve had this post ready for months but completely forgot about it. It’s about four months out of date, but still interesting so I’ve decided to post it anyway. We’ve been planning on upgrading for months (since late 2014), but with a jam packed schedule it was difficult to fit in. On top of that, we weren’t sure which version to jump to: 2.5.12 or 2.6. We’ve been running on Octopus Deploy 2.5.4 since late July 2014 and while it’s been “working”, we were long Continue reading →

Octo.exe – exporting/importing project pitfalls

July 10, 2015 by ianpaullin
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Over a year ago, I mentioned that the Octo.exe supports the ability to export a project from one server to another server. This feature last year needed a lot of work and was a bit difficult to understand, but at the time I didn’t have a pressing need for it. After working with it extensively over the past couple of weeks, I’m confident in saying the Octo.exe can definitely export/import properly, but there are some caveats and pitfalls you need to be aware of. Once you realize Continue reading →

From the frontline: Octopus Server performance tuning

February 12, 2015 by ianpaullin
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We’ve been running Octopus Deploy since 2.0 back in January 2014 as part of our head-to-head battle royale with Release Management 2013. We decided on Octopus in February and our pilot testing started in late March early April with a handful of teams and users. Our shiny server (*ahem* virtual machine) with Octopus Deploy was chugging along and we all had an oh so wonderful user experience. Since 2.0, we’ve upgraded steadily through the releases up to 2.5.4 as of late July and which we’re currently running. Over the past few Continue reading →

Backing up projects on Octopus Tentacles? Think twice

December 17, 2014 by ianpaullin
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I’ve noticed many of our Octopus teams use the File System – Backup Directory step template from the library to implement a backup step. Unfortunately, I’ve seen minimal prudence from said teams implementing backups. Many of these teams simply backup their project across most if not all of their environments while having no rollback steps whatsoever. Don’t get me wrong, I love the Octopus Step library, but the backup directory step (or similar steps) are seldom worth implementing. It’s very tempting to use them and I can understand the appeal. Backups seem like Continue reading →

OctoPack error: Could not find a part of the path

October 28, 2014 by ianpaullin
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If you’re managing numerous Octopus projects across an enterprise, you’re bound to run into an error you’ve never seen before. Most frequently for us, that comes with the build process. Users often confuse (by no fault of their own) the source of the error being the OctoPack but in my experience, the OctoPack in and of itself has very few if any errors. When teams compile applications whether on TFS, TeamCity, etc. errors typically happen during or after the build process. A colleague (@tptechgeek) of mine from Avanade Continue reading →

OctoPack error: Cannot add part for the specified URI because it is already in the package

July 18, 2014 by ianpaullin
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Recently, I had an issue with a project team’s TFS build and the OctoPack. Within the TFS log, I found this error: OctoPack error OCTONUGET: Cannot add part for the specified URI because it is already in the package. After some google-fu, I found a helpful post on StackOverflow. Short answer: you have to remove any duplicate references or duplicate content includes. This fixed worked for us and I imagine it would work for most people. It takes a few minutes to solve the problem but without finding that Continue reading →