Import Solution - "Upgrade"

[fowl2]

Dataverse has this 'wonderful' choice between "Upgrade", "Stage for Upgrade" (aka "Holding"^), and "Update".

The CLI currently has commands for the last two, but not the first.

So we have the choice of either:

Method	Pros	Cons
pac solution import	Works regardless of whether solution is already installed.	Won't clean up deleted components.
pac solution import --import-as-holding and then pac solution upgrade	Cleans up deleted components.	Will error if the solution isn't already installed.

It'd be awesome if we had a pac solution import --upgrade that handled both situations in one step.

I could also see adding a file path parameter to pac solution upgrade if for some reason you wanted an error/warning/skip if the solution wasn't already installed might be useful for some.

---

Refresher on the difference between "Upgrade", "Stage for Upgrade" ("Holding"^), "Update":

Upgrade This is the default option and upgrades your solution to the latest version and rolls up all previous patches in one step. Any components associated to the previous solution version that are not in the newer solution version will be deleted. This option will ensure that your resulting configuration state is consistent with the importing solution including removal of components that are no longer part of the solution.

Stage for Upgrade This option upgrades your solution to the higher version, but defers the deletion of the previous version and any related patches until you apply a solution upgrade later. This option should only be selected if you want to have both the old and new solutions installed in the system concurrently so that you can do some data migration before you complete the solution upgrade. Applying the upgrade will delete the old solution and any components that are not included in the new solution.

Update This option replaces your solution with this version. Components that are not in the newer solution won't be deleted and will remain in the system. Be aware that the source and destination environment may differ if components were deleted in the source environment. This option has the best performance by typically finishing in less time than the upgrade methods.

-- https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/power-apps/maker/data-platform/update-solutions

^ PS I guess some consistency on "stage" vs "holding" might be nice too :)

Thanks!

[YannickRe]

Seems like this one, #385 , and #501 all highlight the same (or at least a similar problem).

[lewginn]

I think the Upgrade import method would be a good start to help with Upgrade/Staged deployments. The "skip lower version" toggle is only partly working at the minute, especially when it comes to applying solution upgrades. It can skip over the Import as holding solution part fine, but skipping over an item that doesn't have an upgrade available?

Having the upgrade option saves a load of time when importing solutions manually, so surely it's on the list for automated deployments!

[YannickRe]

Yes, as the Holding + Apply is just double as slow as the UI version of "Upgrade" that does it all in one go. The team should look at it holistically:

• Add an equivalent to the UI "upgrade" action
• Make sure we can do an import/upgrade that handles all of it: import new, update, upgrade, skip-lower-version so that reruns of the pipeline with the same version solution don't fail, but gracefully continue.

We currently solve this with a PowerShell script that calls the environment API, checks for existing solutions and their versions, and determines the config for the subsequent steps. Works great now, but would be nicer if we have it from PAC CLI natively.

[lewginn]

Couldn't agree more. I think that's essentially what the Power DevOps toolset was doing to. Which I think I'll stick with until the upgrade feature is released

[jcoxdco]

@petrochuk, is this something that the team will be able to take up in the near future?

[petrochuk]

yes, we are making changes in solution import area

[MattB-msft]

We are also in flight on a pac package deploy update to accept a single solution, this will apply the Package deployer logic to update or upgrade the package.

[snizar007]

@fowl2, @lewginn, @YannickRe, @jcoxdco - We have release new version of Power Platform CLI (PAC CLI) ver: 1.28.x where we have introduced pac solution import with --stage-and-upgrade. Please try and provide feedback.

[jcoxdco]

Thanks @snizar007 I love the new functionality. Works great in conjunction with the --skip-lower-version flag.

The issue I'm running into is that each task (Import and then Upgrade) had a two hour time limit enforced. Now the single task of Import Solution with the stage-and-upgrade flag still has a total of 2 hours. My largest solution currently takes about 2 hours 15 minutes to import and upgrade which just results in DevOps reporting an error due to the 2 hour hard limit. (I realize I also have some work to do to try to carve this solution up even more to try to get the overall import times down.)

There a reason that time limits are enforced in the PPBT tasks but are different than the experience when using make.powerapps.com?

[snizar007]

have you tried using --async with your command?

[jcoxdco]

The error is for sure PEBKAC. I remembered to change the max wait time but forgot to update the timeout under the control options. Sorry to waste your time. deployments over two hours (although not great) are supported in the tools. Thanks.

[YannickRe]

@snizar007 Thank you for this, and I tried it out.
Unfortunately, adding the extra switch just increased confusion for me:

• What's the behavior when I combine --import-as-holding and --stage-and-upgrade? Either having them both as true, both as false, and one true and the other false? This doesn't seem documented.
• How does this switch behave in combination with --skip-lower-version?
• How does this switch work when the solution is net new on the target environment? Can I do --skip-lower-version true --stage-and-upgrade true and make it import new solutions and upgrade existing solutions? What would be the one command I can use for both new installs as stage and upgrade for existing solutions, assuming I do not know the state of the current solution on that specific environment?
• This command isn't faster: it is now taking the same time as an "import as holding" + "apply solution upgrade" task, whereas running "upgrade" through the UI is only half that time. We are getting it as one, but not getting the speed advantages you have in the UI when you do it as one, while increasing confusion when combining with existing flags...

[YannickRe]

@snizar007 do you have any clarifications here? Thank you!

[tchinnin]

I'm facing same problem here on Power Platform Build Tools for AzureDevOps 2.0.49

Using --skip-lower-version true and/or --stage-and-upgrade true fail the import if solution does not exist on target environment.

At some point I'll have to perform same as you do @YannickRe : Developing custom PowerShell/PAC function that checks if solution exists in target environment to properly set --skip-lower-version and/or --stage-and-upgrade solution import parameters.

Would be great if we had an out-of-the-box way to deal with new solutions without adding extra steps.

[nguyentranenvoyair]

As a workaround, you can try using "continue-on-error: true" in your step. If solution does not exist in target environment, the step returns an error and you can retry that same step, this time giving it different parameter values.

For more on how to retry a step, please look at this discussion

[crsnt]

I've been experiencing frustrations with large project deployments as well.
Import and Upgrade takes too long, sometimes the next solution import failed because the previous solution hasn't finished upgrading (even though DevOps said its finished).

Environments are not consistent either. Some environments seem to process quicker and some take 3 times slower even though they have same configuration, which is weird and I have ongoing ticket with MS.

Would really love major improvement on solution deployment on how to make it faster. Total deployment time can take 4-7 hours!

[ADMIN-SKE2388]

I just saw this video and noticed behavioural changes when I upgrade CoE. It does not show both solution before it uninstall the old one like in past. Now it seems that "upgrade" more like in line update. Does anyone notice the same thing?

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/shows/the-low-code-revolution/importing-managed-solutions-what-has-changed-to-the-upgrade-verses-update-process