TFS Release Management - Monitoring a build drop location, or scheduling a release

Question

Is it possible to schedule a recurring release from within Release Management? I'd like to be able to step away from RM and have it automatically push a release using the latest build from the path's specified build drop location.

Also - is it possible to have RM automatically release whenever a new build is dropped, WITHOUT installing the RM agent on the build server, and without writing extra REST services etc - simply via tool configuration? It already is configured to see the drops folder (in Path > Properties) - so I would imagine that clicking the checkbox that says Release on Build should... release on build, no?

Answer 1

Those are fundamental features of Release Management for Visual Studio, so yes.

It really depends on which version of the bits gives you automatic configurations. That checkbox for build is more giving permission for that build to trigger the release.

However I you are on VSO and using the vNext templates you will get an automatic subscription.

Otherwise its a push model. Your build needs to push the build to the release pipeline.

Answer 2

For your first question you can use a build definition that is triggered on a schedule. I have a soup-to-nuts blog post series (index page here) that takes you through the whole process.