CCNet : how to upgrade to a new version

I've been using CCNet for some years, and here is how I upgrade it :

• stop all projects, or certainly the CI ones
• stop ccnet service/console
• take backup of the server and dashboard folders (zip them) just to be on the safe side
• copy over the new binaries (including templates, xsl files, ...)
• start ccnet service/console
• start the projects again

I never do an install over an existing one, because in the past you would loose your ccnet.config file, which is a pain, and sometimes you lost a .state file, which is VERY painfull. We're in the process of making upgrades less painfull though.

Now if you have only a couple of CCNet projects, you can click stop on each of them, but if you got dozens, this will take some time. And since I'm into automation, I do not like to do repeatative jobs, these are sure to give errors one time. Unfortunately there is no built in mechanism to stop all projects, or a group of projects, but all the functionality exists. I took a look at CCTray, and after some time I figured it out. I'll save you the trouble, just copy the code below. I know, not the most clear code, but it is on the to-do list for a major refactor.
The code is a VB.Net console program, but perfectly usable :-)
Pass start or stop as argument, to start/stop projects not in de Deployment category.

Imports ThoughtWorks.CruiseControl Imports ThoughtWorks.CruiseControl.Remote Module Module1 Private BuildServerManager As CCTrayLib.Monitoring.ICruiseServerManager Private Const BuildServerUrl As String = "tcp://buildserver:21234" Sub Main() Dim args As String() Try Dim StopProjects As Boolean args = Environment.GetCommandLineArgs() If args.Count <> 2 Then Console.WriteLine("{0} State ", args(0)) Console.WriteLine(" example : {0} stop to stop all CI projects", args(0)) Console.WriteLine(" example : {0} start to start all CI projects", args(0)) Throw New Exception() End If StopProjects = args(1).ToLower = "stop" BuildServerManager = CreateBuildServerManager() Dim CruiseSnapShot As Remote.CruiseServerSnapshot = BuildServerManager.GetCruiseServerSnapshot Dim CruiseManager As Remote.ICruiseManager Dim z As New Remote.RemoteCruiseManagerFactory CruiseManager = z.GetCruiseManager(BuildServerUrl) For Each project As Remote.ProjectStatus In CruiseSnapShot.ProjectStatuses If Not project.Category.StartsWith("Deployment") Then If project.Activity = Remote.ProjectActivity.Sleeping AndAlso StopProjects Then Console.WriteLine("Stopping {0} ...", project.Name) CreateProjectManager(project.Name).StopProject() End If If project.Status = ProjectIntegratorState.Stopped AndAlso Not StopProjects Then Console.WriteLine("Starting {0} ...", project.Name) CreateProjectManager(project.Name).StartProject() End If End If Next Catch ex As Exception Console.WriteLine(ex.ToString) End Try Console.ReadKey() End Sub Private Function CreateBuildServerManager() As CCTrayLib.Monitoring.ICruiseServerManager Dim RemoteCruiseManagerFactory As Remote.RemoteCruiseManagerFactory = New Remote.RemoteCruiseManagerFactory Dim Factory As CCTrayLib.Monitoring.CruiseServerManagerFactory = New CCTrayLib.Monitoring.CruiseServerManagerFactory(RemoteCruiseManagerFactory) Dim Manager As CCTrayLib.Monitoring.ICruiseServerManager = Factory.Create(CreateBuildServer()) Return Manager End Function Private Function CreateProjectManager(ByVal projectName As String) As CCTrayLib.Monitoring.ICruiseProjectManager Dim server = CreateBuildServer() Dim remoteCruiseManagerFactory As ICruiseManagerFactory = New RemoteCruiseManagerFactory() Dim factory As CCTrayLib.Monitoring.CruiseProjectManagerFactory = New CCTrayLib.Monitoring.CruiseProjectManagerFactory(remoteCruiseManagerFactory) Dim projectConfig As CCTrayLib.Configuration.CCTrayProject = New CCTrayLib.Configuration.CCTrayProject(server, projectName) Dim serverList As Collections.Generic.Dictionary(Of CCTrayLib.Configuration.BuildServer, CCTrayLib.Monitoring.ICruiseServerManager) = New Dictionary(Of CCTrayLib.Configuration.BuildServer, CCTrayLib.Monitoring.ICruiseServerManager) serverList.Add(server, CreateBuildServerManager) Dim manager As CCTrayLib.Monitoring.ICruiseProjectManager = factory.Create(projectConfig, serverList) Return manager End Function Private Function CreateBuildServer() As CCTrayLib.Configuration.BuildServer Dim serverName = BuildServerUrl.ToLower If Not serverName.StartsWith("tcp://") Then Throw New Exception("set up the url as remoting, url used : " + BuildServerUrl) End If serverName = serverName.Substring(6) Return CCTrayLib.Configuration.BuildServer.BuildFromRemotingDisplayName(serverName) End Function End Module