How do I specify my custom agent in the build pipeline?

Question

I am following Donovan Brown\'s blog post to try and setup a build agent for VB6

I can see my agent in the agent pools

but don\'t know what to put as the image.

Answer 1

How do I specify my custom agent in the build pipeline?

I have encountered the same issue as you. To resolve this issue, I try to create a new build pipeline by using the visual designer, select my custom private agent, then select the options View YAML:

I got following code:

pool:
  name: VS2017PrivateAgent

And it works fine.

But I am still curious why I can not use pool:vmImage and how add my private agent option to the drop-down menu.

After search much info, I found the reason in an inconspicuous place Pool:

pool:
  name: string  # name of the pool to run this job in
  demands: string | [ string ]  ## see below
  vmImage: string # name of the vm image you want to use, only valid in the Microsoft-hosted pool

The comment name of the vm image you want to use, only valid in the Microsoft-hosted pool is the real reason I could not use pool:vmImage.

And

If you're using a private pool and don't need to specify demands, this can be shortened to:

pool: string # name of the private pool to run this job in

Hope this can give more info about this issue.