Team Foundation Server Build Failure "the semaphore timeout period has expired"

Question

I have serveral build tasks set up in TFS 2008. Intermittently (and constantly at present) the builds fail with the message:

TF209011: Could not create drop location \server\share\BuildName_20100729.6: The semaphore timeout period has expired.

Both the TFS and drop location server are VMs, not sure if this is likely to be part of the issue. I can continuously ping the drop server from the build server with no issues, and I can create the directory manually using Windows Explorer with no issues.

Our infrastructure people claim there are no network problems, but I'm prepared to believe there are.

The fact that sometimes the builds work seems to indicate this is not an issue with permissions on the TFSSERVICE account or anything like that.

The full error from the tail of BuildLog.txt is:

Build FAILED.


"C:\Users\TFSSERVICE\AppData\Local\Temp\projdir\teambuildtypedir\BuildType  \TFSBuild.proj" (EndToEndIteration target) (1) ->

(InitializeEndToEndIteration target) -> 

C:\Program Files\MSBuild\Microsoft\VisualStudio\TeamBuild\Microsoft.TeamFoundation.Build.targets(407,5,407,5): error : TF209011: Could not create drop location \\server\share\BuildName_20100729.6: The semaphore timeout period has expired.

C:\Program Files\MSBuild\Microsoft\VisualStudio\TeamBuild\Microsoft.TeamFoundation.Build.targets(407,5,407,5): error : .

C:\Program Files\MSBuild\Microsoft\VisualStudio\TeamBuild\Microsoft.TeamFoundation.Build.targets(407,5): error MSB4018: The "UpdateBuildNumberDropLocation" task failed unexpectedly.

C:\Program Files\MSBuild\Microsoft\VisualStudio\TeamBuild\Microsoft.TeamFoundation.Build.targets(407,5): error MSB4018: System.IO.IOException: TF209011: Could not create drop location \\server\share\BuildName_20100729.6: The semaphore timeout period has expired.

C:\Program Files\MSBuild\Microsoft\VisualStudio\TeamBuild\Microsoft.TeamFoundation.Build.targets(407,5): error MSB4018: . ---> System.IO.IOException: The semaphore timeout period has expired.

C:\Program Files\MSBuild\Microsoft\VisualStudio\TeamBuild\Microsoft.TeamFoundation.Build.targets(407,5): error MSB4018: 

C:\Program Files\MSBuild\Microsoft\VisualStudio\TeamBuild\Microsoft.TeamFoundation.Build.targets(407,5): error MSB4018:    at System.IO.__Error.WinIOError(Int32 errorCode, String maybeFullPath)

C:\Program Files\MSBuild\Microsoft\VisualStudio\TeamBuild\Microsoft.TeamFoundation.Build.targets(407,5): error MSB4018:    at System.IO.Directory.InternalCreateDirectory(String fullPath, String path, DirectorySecurity dirSecurity)

C:\Program Files\MSBuild\Microsoft\VisualStudio\TeamBuild\Microsoft.TeamFoundation.Build.targets(407,5): error MSB4018:    at System.IO.Directory.CreateDirectory(String path, DirectorySecurity directorySecurity)

C:\Program Files\MSBuild\Microsoft\VisualStudio\TeamBuild\Microsoft.TeamFoundation.Build.targets(407,5): error MSB4018:    at Microsoft.TeamFoundation.Build.Common.BuildCommonUtil.CreateAndPermissionDropDirectory(String dropDirectory, TeamFoundationServer tfs)

C:\Program Files\MSBuild\Microsoft\VisualStudio\TeamBuild\Microsoft.TeamFoundation.Build.targets(407,5): error MSB4018:    --- End of inner exception stack trace ---

C:\Program Files\MSBuild\Microsoft\VisualStudio\TeamBuild\Microsoft.TeamFoundation.Build.targets(407,5): error MSB4018:    at Microsoft.TeamFoundation.Build.Common.BuildCommonUtil.CreateAndPermissionDropDirectory(String dropDirectory, TeamFoundationServer tfs)

C:\Program Files\MSBuild\Microsoft\VisualStudio\TeamBuild\Microsoft.TeamFoundation.Build.targets(407,5): error MSB4018:    at Microsoft.TeamFoundation.Build.UpdateBuildNumberDropLocation.ExecuteInternal()

C:\Program Files\MSBuild\Microsoft\VisualStudio\TeamBuild\Microsoft.TeamFoundation.Build.targets(407,5): error MSB4018:    at Microsoft.TeamFoundation.Build.Tasks.Task.Execute()

C:\Program Files\MSBuild\Microsoft\VisualStudio\TeamBuild\Microsoft.TeamFoundation.Build.targets(407,5): error MSB4018:    at Microsoft.Build.BuildEngine.TaskEngine.ExecuteInstantiatedTask(EngineProxy engineProxy, ItemBucket bucket, TaskExecutionMode howToExecuteTask, ITask task, Boolean& taskResult)

0 Warning(s)

2 Error(s)

Time Elapsed 00:00:19.49

Answer 1

This problem disappeared for us over the course of a few months.

I can't prove anything, but I think it was related to a setup issue we had with our VMWare installation, that resulted in machines dropping unexpectedly off the network. We resolved this by upgrading the firmware on each of the blades in our Dell Bladecenter.

Not a software issue, anyway...