DEV Community: Ryan Rousseau

A tip for debugging Octopus Deploy variables

Ryan Rousseau — Tue, 29 Mar 2022 21:49:21 +0000

I sometimes need to debug issues related to incorrect variable substitutions or filters in my deployments.

The Octopus docs have some tips on debugging problems with variables.

The third option, writing variables to the deployment log, is the one I use the most.

Writing variables to the deployment log

Octopus provides two system variables, OctopusPrintVariables and OctopusPrintEvaluatedVariables. Setting these variables to True will write all variable values to the deployment log.

OctopusPrintVariables will write the unevaluated variable values to the log. OctopusPrintEvaluatedVariables will write the fully evaluated variable values to the log.

I find these useful enough to keep them in the project. Before, I have left the values set to False when not using them. I change them to True when I need to debug other variables. The doc page mentions that you can update the variable snapshot on a release instead of creating a new release when adding or updating these variables.

I added a little extra to my configuration to avoid switching the values back and forth - prompted variables.

Conditionally writing debug logs with Prompted Variables

I configure OctopusPrintEvaluatedVariables to also prompt with the label Print Evaluated Variables?.

The values will default to False. I can check the boxes during a deployment to turn on the debug logging only for that deployment.

Wrap-up

Combining prompted variables with OctopusPrintVariables and OctopusPrintEvaluatedVariables provides an easy way to debug your deployments' variable values.

This post was originally published at blog.rousseau.dev. Cover photo by Timothy Dykes on Unsplash.

Ask Octopus - How do I set the master key for my Octopus container?

Ryan Rousseau — Fri, 22 Jan 2021 17:27:05 +0000

You have Octopus running in a container. Now you need to upgrade or recreate the container. How do you reconnect to the existing database? Find out in this Ask Octopus!

Other resources:

https://help.octopus.com/t/how-do-i-set-the-master-key-in-for-octopus-running-in-a-container/26134

Do you have a question about how to use Octopus? Email advice@octopus.com and someone from our team will get you an answer. You might even see it in a future episode.

Join our community slack at https://octopus.com/slack

Ask Octopus - Can I host the Octopus Server in Docker?

Ryan Rousseau — Mon, 07 Dec 2020 19:12:05 +0000

One of our recent frequently asked questions has been about hosting an Octopus Server in Docker? Can you do it? What do you need to know? Find out in this Ask Octopus!

Other resources:

https://octopus.com/docs/installation/octopus-in-container

Do you have a question about how to use Octopus? Email advice@octopus.com and someone from our team will get you an answer. You might even see it in a future episode.

Join our community slack at https://octopus.com/slack

Ask Octopus - How can I set up Disaster Recovery?

Ryan Rousseau — Tue, 01 Dec 2020 14:38:03 +0000

Wondering what your Disaster Recovery options are for your Octopus Server? Find out in this Ask Octopus!

Other resources:

https://help.octopus.com/t/how-do-i-set-up-octopus-deploy-for-disaster-recovery/24081/2

Do you have a question about how to use Octopus? Email advice@octopus.com and someone from our team will get you an answer. You might even see it in a future episode.

Join our community slack at https://octopus.com/slack

Ask Octopus - Can I turn off health checks?

Ryan Rousseau — Mon, 23 Nov 2020 19:20:15 +0000

You don't need health checks to run very often or at all. Can you disable them completely? Find out in this Ask Octopus!

Other resources:

Do you have a question about how to use Octopus? Email advice@octopus.com and someone from our team will get you an answer. You might even see it in a future episode.

Join our community slack at https://octopus.com/slack

Ask Octopus - Can I have a test Octopus Server?

Ryan Rousseau — Fri, 13 Nov 2020 18:44:21 +0000

You need another Octopus Server instance to test upgrades. Do you need another license? Find out in this Ask Octopus!

Other resources:

Do you have a question about how to use Octopus? Email advice@octopus.com and someone from our team will get you an answer. You might even see it in a future episode.

Join our community slack at https://octopus.com/slack

Ask Octopus - Can I deploy database changes?

Ryan Rousseau — Fri, 06 Nov 2020 17:35:43 +0000

You're interested in automating your database deployments but not sure where to start? Check out the resources available in this Ask Octopus!

Other resources:

Do you have a question about how to use Octopus? Email advice@octopus.com and someone from our team will get you an answer. You might even see it in a future episode.

Join our community slack at https://octopus.com/slack

Ask Octopus - How do I ignore messages written to stderr?

Ryan Rousseau — Fri, 30 Oct 2020 17:16:51 +0000

A tool that you're using in your deployments is writing informational logs to stderr, but you don't want the messages to show up as errors. What do you do? Find out in this Ask Octopus!

Do you have a question about how to use Octopus? Email advice@octopus.com and someone from our team will get you an answer. You might even see it in a future episode.

Join our community slack at https://octopus.com/slack

Ask Octopus - Can consumers of my step templates provide their own packages?

Ryan Rousseau — Fri, 23 Oct 2020 17:00:52 +0000

You want to write generic step templates that let the consumers provide their own packages. What do you do? Find out in this Ask Octopus!

Do you have a question about how to use Octopus? Email advice@octopus.com and someone from our team will get you an answer. You might even see it in a future episode.

Join our community slack at https://octopus.com/slack

Ask Octopus - Can I use the date in the release number?

Ryan Rousseau — Fri, 16 Oct 2020 16:09:27 +0000

You want to base your release versions on the current date. What do you do? Find out in this Ask Octopus!

Do you have a question about how to use Octopus? Email advice@octopus.com and someone from our team will get you an answer. You might even see it in a future episode.

Join our community slack at https://octopus.com/slack

Ask Octopus - Can I make a copy of a project?

Ryan Rousseau — Fri, 09 Oct 2020 16:22:11 +0000

You have a project that you want to copy and modify. What do you do? Find out in this Ask Octopus!

Do you have a question about how to use Octopus? Email advice@octopus.com and someone from our team will get you an answer. You might even see it in a future episode.

Join our community slack at https://octopus.com/slack

Ask Octopus - Can I change the Worker Pool by environment?

Ryan Rousseau — Fri, 02 Oct 2020 16:01:21 +0000

You have a script step that needs to run on different worker pools depending on the environment. What do you do? Find out in this Ask Octopus!

Do you have a question about how to use Octopus? Email advice@octopus.com and someone from our team will get you an answer. You might even see it in a future episode.

Join our community slack at https://octopus.com/slack