Area/Iteration Path Errors when running tool

[DrNicoleSHale]

Running into some errors when attempting to run the migration tool. The source is on prem, the target is in the cloud, and the user(s) attempting to run the tool has the highest level(s) of permissions. All area & iteration paths have been double checked and confirmed in the source and target. Checked out the link provided in the error as well, which wasn't helpful. Not sure what else is going on, but Here's the portion of the error code where were' seeing the error:

[13:17:51 DBG] [v14.4.6] TfsNodeStructure:CheckForMissingPaths
[13:17:51 DBG] [v14.4.6] TfsNodeStructure:CheckForMissingPaths::AreaNodes::1
[13:17:51 DBG] [v14.4.6] TfsNodeStructure:CheckForMissingPaths:Checking::null
[13:17:51 DBG] [v14.4.6] TfsNodeStructure:CheckForMissingPaths:CheckTarget::\COMPANY Sandbox\Area\BUSINESSUNIT\LSMigrationTest
[13:17:51 DBG] [v14.4.6] TfsNodeStructure:CheckForMissingPaths:CheckTarget::NOTFOUND:\COMPANY Sandbox\Area\BUSINESSUNIT\LSMigrationTest
[13:17:51 DBG] [v14.4.6] TfsNodeStructure:CheckForMissingPaths
[13:17:51 DBG] [v14.4.6] TfsNodeStructure:CheckForMissingPaths::IterationNodes::1
[13:17:51 DBG] [v14.4.6] TfsNodeStructure:CheckForMissingPaths:Checking::null
[13:17:51 DBG] [v14.4.6] TfsNodeStructure:PopulateIterationDatesFronSource:\LS\Iteration\BUSINESSUNIT\LSMigrationTest
[13:17:51 DBG] [v14.4.6] TfsNodeStructure:CheckForMissingPaths:CheckTarget::\COMPANY Sandbox\Iteration\BUSINESSUNIT\LSMigrationTest
[13:17:52 DBG] [v14.4.6] TfsNodeStructure:CheckForMissingPaths:CheckTarget::NOTFOUND:\COMPANY Sandbox\Iteration\BUSINESSUNIT\LSMigrationTest
[13:17:52 WRN] [v14.4.6] !! There are MISSING Area or Iteration Paths
[13:17:52 WRN] [v14.4.6] !! There are 2 Nodes (Area or Iteration) found in the history of the Source that are missing from the Target! These MUST be added or mapped before we can continue using the instructions on https://nkdagility.com/learn/azure-devops-migration-tools/Reference/v1/Processors/WorkItemMigrationContext/#iteration-maps-and-area-maps
[13:17:52 WRN] [v14.4.6] MISSING Area: sourcePath=LS\BUSINESSUNIT\LSMigrationTest, targetPath=COMPANY Sandbox\BUSINESSUNIT\LSMigrationTest, anchored=True, IDs=n/a
[13:17:52 WRN] [v14.4.6] MISSING Iteration: sourcePath=LS\BUSINESSUNIT\LSMigrationTest, targetPath=COPMANY Sandbox\BUSINESSUNIT\LSMigrationTest, anchored=True, IDs=n/a
[13:17:52 INF] [v14.4.6] DONE in 00:00:05.1450454

[MrHinsh]

Those dont look like errors, they are just debug logs.

is there an ERR or WRN that you meant to present?

[DrNicoleSHale]

I'm going to say yes. I'm very new to this so I may have missed something, BUT there have been other more technical people in my org that that have looked into the error, looked at the link in attempt to fix the problem, and tried several solutions. We're still getting this same error.

[madhuripawar2212]

@ShereAdrastos - I was having the same problem. I was facing this issue because the Project name was changed in source and so iteration and area paths were changed. Even though the current workitems are linked to the current iteration and Area path, I was facing the same issue.

In the workitem processor, I mapped the old iterations and area maps as below.

"Processors": [
{
"$type": "WorkItemMigrationConfig",
"Enabled": true,
"ReplayRevisions": true,
"PrefixProjectToNodes": false,
"UpdateCreatedDate": true,
"UpdateCreatedBy": true,
"WIQLQueryBit": "AND [System.WorkItemType] <> '' AND [System.State] <> '' AND [Microsoft.VSTS.TCM.TestSuiteTypeId] = ''",
"WIQLOrderBit": "[System.ChangedDate] desc",
"LinkMigration": true,
"AttachmentMigration": true,
"AttachmentWorkingPath": "c:\temp\WorkItemAttachmentWorkingFolder\",
"FixHtmlAttachmentLinks": true,
"SkipToFinalRevisedWorkItemType": true,
"WorkItemCreateRetryLimit": 6,
"FilterWorkItemsThatAlreadyExistInTarget": true,
"PauseAfterEachWorkItem": false,
"AttachmentMaxSize": 480000000,
"AttachRevisionHistory": false,
"LinkMigrationSaveEachAsAdded": false,
"GenerateMigrationComment": true,
"WorkItemIDs": null,
"MaxRevisions": 0,
"UseCommonNodeStructureEnricherConfig": false,
"StopMigrationOnMissingAreaIterationNodes": false,
"NodeBasePaths": [],
"AreaMaps": {
"^MWAnalyticsAegis": "ModernWork365\M365"
},
"IterationMaps": {
"^MWAnalyticsAegis\\2023 Sprint 17": "ModernWork365\2023 Sprint 16",
"^MWAnalyticsAegis\\2023 Sprint 16": "ModernWork365\2023 Sprint 16",
"^MWAnalyticsAegis": "ModernWork365"
},
"MaxGracefulFailures": 0,
"SkipRevisionWithInvalidIterationPath": false,
"SkipRevisionWithInvalidAreaPath": false
},

[MrHinsh]

@ShereAdrastos you are correct.

As per the notes in the log, the list of missing areas or Iterations need to be mapped to valid areas or Iteration in the source using the mechanism provided in the linked documentation.

I've updated the log notes to try and make it clearer in the latest version.

[DrNicoleSHale]

@madhuripawar2212 thanks for your insight here!.....My boss wants to know: "At what point did the project change? Was it before or during the migration? I'm curious how did it matter as long as the name used the current paths?" Hopefully that makes sense, but if not, I can ask for clarity and repost.

[MrHinsh]

Someone may have either 1) renamed the project, which affects all Area Iteration paths... or 2) moved a work item between projects.

We can only update the Source to Target by default, and the mappings fix that.

You can check the history of the offending work items and see when they changed in the history on Source.

[DrNicoleSHale]

@MrHinsh thanks, I'm checking with the team who controls the source project, to see if the project and/or work items were renamed or moved at some point. In the meantime, my boss has a follow up question: So what does it mean if they were moved/renamed? How does it affect and tool? How would we know this and what would we need to change in the config to accommodate the potential for it.

[MrHinsh]

Yes... one of the few things that MUST exist is Area and Iterations when migrating. If there are areas and iterations in the history of the work items that don't exist then the migration of that revision will fail.

We build a distinct list of Area and Iterations at the start of the migration and test them all to make sure that they exist. If you have ShouldCreateMissingRevisionPaths enabled in TfsNodeStructure then we create all that we can. However, if a work item was moved from Project A to Project B then there is a node that starts with "Project A" in a work item in "Project B" and since we are not sure what to do with that we stop....

This allows you to create a mapping to say where you want those missing things to go.