Why does a TFS upgrade from TFS 2010 to TFS 2015 get stuck on “Verifying the databse connection strings are valid or fixable”?

Question

I have a remote SQL Server 2012 SP1 instance and I have restored the TFS databases Tfs_Configuration, TfsWarehouse and Tfs_MyCollection on that server. The databases come from backups of a TFS 2010/SQL Server 2008 application/data tier.

My new application tier server is fresh install of TFS 2015 Update 4/Windows 2012 R2. I am using the TFS Configuration Center upgrade wizard to configure my TFS 2015 instance to use the remote SQL Server databases that were restored from the TFS 2010/SQL Server 2008 combo.

Unfortunately, the readiness check hangs and does not progress on "Verifying the database connection strings are valid or fixable".

Why does this happen? The process seems pretty straightforward according to the document I followed : https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/vsts/tfs-server/upgrade/tfs-2005-to-2015

*Note: I cannot run TFSConfig RemapDBs since the 2015 server had no DB's to begin with.

Below is the tail end of TFS_TFS Upgrade_0922_172528 from C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Team Foundation\Server Configuration\Logs

[Info   @13:26:42.792] +-+-+-+-+-| Running Tfs2010OrLaterDatabaseUpgradable: Verifying that existing collection database can be upgraded |+-+-+-+-+-
[Info   @13:26:42.792] 
[Info   @13:26:42.792] +-+-+-+-+-| Verifying that existing collection database can be upgraded |+-+-+-+-+-
[Info   @13:26:42.792] Starting Node: VPCUPGRADE
[Info   @13:26:42.792] NodePath : VINPUTS/Progress/Conditional/VPCUPGRADE
[Info   @13:26:43.447] Node returned: Success
[Info   @13:26:43.447] Completed Tfs2010OrLaterDatabaseUpgradable: Success
[Info   @13:26:43.447] -----------------------------------------------------
[Info   @13:26:43.447] 
[Info   @13:26:43.447] +-+-+-+-+-| Running VerifyShouldRunRemapDbs: Verifying the database connection strings are valid or fixable |+-+-+-+-+-
[Info   @13:26:43.447] 
[Info   @13:26:43.447] +-+-+-+-+-| Verifying the database connection strings are valid or fixable |+-+-+-+-+-
[Info   @13:26:43.447] Starting Node: VREMAPDBS
[Info   @13:26:43.447] NodePath : VINPUTS/Progress/Conditional/VPCUPGRADE/VREMAPDBS
[Info   @14:13:27.256] VerifyShouldRunRemapDbs: ValidAfterAutoFix
[Info   @14:13:27.256] Node returned: Success
[Info   @14:13:27.256] Completed VerifyShouldRunRemapDbs: Success
[Info   @14:13:27.256] -----------------------------------------------------
[Info   @14:13:27.256] 
[Info   @14:13:27.256] +-+-+-+-+-| Running VerifyCollectionsReachable: Verifying the collection databases are reachable |+-+-+-+-+-
[Info   @14:13:27.256] 
[Info   @14:13:27.256] +-+-+-+-+-| Verifying the collection databases are reachable |+-+-+-+-+-
[Info   @14:13:27.256] Starting Node: VCOLLECTIONSREACHABLE
[Info   @14:13:27.256] NodePath : VINPUTS/Progress/Conditional/VPCUPGRADE/VCOLLECTIONSREACHABLE
[Info   @14:13:27.259] Getting Reachable Collections
[Info   @14:13:27.273] Scanning for Team Project Collection databases.

Does this errors out or just stays as is? And what version of SQL server do you use while upgrading? The minimum required is SQL Server 2012 SP1 docs.microsoft.com/en-us/vsts/accounts/requirements#sql-server — Rex
@Rex There is no error it just stays as is. The SQL Server version that the TFS 2015 instance is trying to connect to through the upgrade wizard is SQL Server 2012 SP 1 — dimlee
From our own upgrade experience we found that we couldn't skip versions. We had to upgrade through every major version along the way or something odd would happen. You should consider upgrading via the versions between 2010 and 2015. — Lasse V. Karlsen

PatrickLu-MSFT PatrickLu-MSFT · Accepted Answer · 2017-09-25T09:57:22

From the error message, it seems something wrong with your Tfs_Configuration database. Please try to backup this database from the old TFS 2010 and restore it again (if you have) on new server.

Configure my TFS 2015 instance to use the remote SQL Server databases that were restored from the TFS 2010/SQL Server 2008 combo. According to your description the SQL2012 and SQL2008 is installed on one server, also make sure Uninstall the SQL2008 Server when you are using the TFS upgrade wizard, otherwise may cause some issue or conflict.

And since you directly installed TFS2015 update4 . Suggest you first install the TFS2015 RTM version and do the upgrade, configure features after an TFS upgrade, finally update your TFS2015 to TFS2015 update4. See TFS support for SQL Server

Why does a TFS upgrade from TFS 2010 to TFS 2015 get stuck on “Verifying the databse connection strings are valid or fixable”?

1 Answers