Pipelines | Name the agent image parameter poolImage everywhere and require it

[paulmedynski]

Summary

The agent image parameter was spelled five different ways across the pipeline templates, and ten of them carried a default, so a template could silently select an agent image that its caller never mentioned. This makes the parameter uniform and makes every image an explicit choice at the call site.

• Rename to poolImage. All 21 declarations, references and call-site keys, replacing vmImage (16), platformImage (2), image (1), agentImage (1) and imageOverride (1). This pairs with the poolName parameter it always accompanies.
• Remove the defaults. Ten declarations carried one. The nine that live in templates with callers lose theirs, and the 9 call sites that had been inheriting a value now pass it explicitly.
• Keep one default, on the CI package pipeline's top-level parameter. It has no caller to supply a value: it exists so developers can pick the pool image manually when queueing a run, and it defaults to ADO-UB24 for automated runs.

Not renamed

These keep their names because they are Azure Pipelines' own vocabulary, not ours:

• the vmImage: key inside a pool: block (4 sites)
• the imageOverride demand capability (22 sites)

Also untouched: the image field of the PR pipeline's platforms objects and the CI matrix's images map, which are data structures rather than template parameters; and eng/pipelines/onebranch/, which governs its own pools.

Call sites that gained an explicit image

call site	template	image
dotnet-sqlclient-ci-core.yml	compute-versions-ci-stage	ADO-UB24
dotnet-sqlclient-ci-core.yml	generate-secrets-ci-stage	ADO-UB24
dotnet-sqlclient-ci-core.yml	verify-nuget-packages-ci-stage	ADO-Win25
dotnet-sqlclient-ci-core.yml	ci-code-coverage-job	ADO-UB24
build-abstractions-package-ci-stage.yml	pack-abstractions-package-ci-job	ADO-UB24
build-azure-package-ci-stage.yml	pack-azure-package-ci-job	ADO-UB24
build-logging-package-ci-stage.yml	pack-logging-package-ci-job	ADO-UB24
build-sqlserver-package-ci-stage.yml	pack-sqlserver-package-ci-job	ADO-UB24
build-sqlclient-package-ci-stage.yml	ci-build-nugets-job	ADO-Win25

Validation

This is a pure refactor - no job changes the image it runs on.

check	result
YAML parses across eng/pipelines/**	92 files, 0 failures
Leftover old parameter names	0
poolImage declarations	21, exactly 1 with a default
Call sites missing a required poolImage	0
Effective image per call site, before vs after	41 call sites, 0 mismatches

The last check resolves every call site to the image it actually uses - explicit value, or the default it inherited - at both the parent commit and this branch, and confirms all 41 land on the identical image.

These changes have not been executed against Azure DevOps.

Pipeline runs

Base URL for the Public project: https://dev.azure.com/SqlClientDrivers/public/_build/results?buildId=

Public

pipeline	trigger	run	result
PR-SqlClient-Project (2197)	automatic on PR push	173337	partially succeeded - no failed stage
sqlclient-pr (2281)	automatic on PR push	173338	succeeded
sqlclient-ci-package (2300)	queued manually on refs/pull/4626/merge	173343	succeeded
CI-SqlClient (1879)	queued manually on refs/pull/4626/merge	173344	partially succeeded - no failed stage after retry

CI-SqlClient-Package (1917), PR-SqlClient-Package (2198) and sqlclient-ci-stress (2250) are affected but disabled, so there is nothing to run.

ADO.Net

These build the internal dotnet-sqlclient repo, so no GitHub PR can reach them. They are queued manually against a branch carrying this change. sqlclient-ci-kerberos and sqlclient-ci-managed-instance matter most - they are the only affected pipelines whose templates a GitHub PR cannot exercise at all.

All runs below are on refs/heads/dev/paul/pool-image in the internal repo.

pipeline	run	result
sqlclient-ci-kerberos (2306)	20260908.4	succeeded
sqlclient-ci-managed-instance (2308)	25102	succeeded
sqlclient-ci-package (2277)	25102	succeeded
sqlclient-pr (2271)	25101	succeeded
MDS Main CI (1825)	25104	partially succeeded - no failed stage after retry
MDS Main CI-Package (1933)	25104	failed - only MacOSLatest_Sql25, see note below

A poolImage mismatch is a template-expansion error, which Azure DevOps reports at queue time before any agent is allocated - so a run that compiles is already proof for these, even if it is cancelled before the tests finish.

sqlclient-ci-kerberos and sqlclient-ci-managed-instance both passed end to end, so the two templates that no GitHub PR can reach are verified by real runs rather than by compilation alone.

Failures and retries

Every failure observed was an infrastructure flake on agents this change does not touch. Across all 10 runs, MacOSLatest_Sql25 and Win11_Azure_Sql_ARM64 were the only stages that ever failed - no stage that consumes a renamed poolImage parameter failed in any run.

stage	failure	relation to this PR
MacOSLatest_Sql25	Configure SQL Server [macOS] exits 1, then Publish Test Artifacts finds no TestResults. On the retry in MDS Main CI-Package the job instead hit the 90 minute timeout on hosted agent Azure Pipelines 6.	none - these jobs select their agent with pool: vmImage: macos-latest, one of the 4 Azure Pipelines keys deliberately left unrenamed
Win11_Azure_Sql_ARM64	Download SqlServer Package Artifacts returns Too Many Requests; passed on retry	none - artifact download throttling

Retries cleared the macOS stage in PR-SqlClient-Project, CI-SqlClient and MDS Main CI, and the ARM64 stage in MDS Main CI-Package. Only the macOS stage in MDS Main CI-Package is still red, for the timeout above.

The partially succeeded results are the normal outcome for these pipelines: the quarantined flaky-test steps report succeededWithIssues, which downgrades the run without any task failing.

Not affected

OneBranch (2240/2241), perf (2305/2311/2313), github-sync (2263), the sni and ctaip pipelines, and the docs pipelines.

[Copilot]

🟢 Approval recommended

The refactor preserves image selections, and all 38 call sites supply the 19 newly required template parameters.

Pull request overview

Standardizes agent-image template parameters as poolImage across CI/PR pipelines while preserving the image selections introduced by #4515.

Changes:

• Renames all custom image parameters to poolImage.
• Removes template defaults and explicitly supplies images at every call site.
• Retains the standalone package pipeline’s queue-time default.

File summaries

File	Description
eng/pipelines/stages/verify-nuget-packages-ci-stage.yml	Requires poolImage for verification.
eng/pipelines/stages/generate-secrets-ci-stage.yml	Requires poolImage for secret generation.
eng/pipelines/stages/compute-versions-ci-stage.yml	Requires poolImage for version computation.
eng/pipelines/stages/build-sqlserver-package-ci-stage.yml	Supplies the pack-job image.
eng/pipelines/stages/build-sqlclient-package-ci-stage.yml	Supplies the NuGet build image.
eng/pipelines/stages/build-logging-package-ci-stage.yml	Supplies the logging pack image.
eng/pipelines/stages/build-azure-package-ci-stage.yml	Renames test images and supplies the pack image.
eng/pipelines/stages/build-abstractions-package-ci-stage.yml	Renames test images and supplies the pack image.
eng/pipelines/pr/stages/test-stages.yml	Passes platform images using poolImage.
eng/pipelines/pr/stages/pack-stage.yml	Renames the required pack-stage image parameter.
eng/pipelines/pr/stages/generate-secrets-stage.yml	Renames the required secrets-stage image parameter.
eng/pipelines/pr/stages/collect-coverage-stage.yml	Renames the required coverage image parameter.
eng/pipelines/pr/sqlclient-pr-pipeline.yml	Updates PR stage call sites.
eng/pipelines/pr/jobs/test-sqlclientmanual-job.yml	Standardizes the manual-test image parameter.
eng/pipelines/pr/jobs/test-buildproj-job.yml	Standardizes the build-project image parameter.
eng/pipelines/jobs/test-azure-package-ci-job.yml	Standardizes Azure test image references.
eng/pipelines/jobs/test-abstractions-package-ci-job.yml	Standardizes Abstractions test image references.
eng/pipelines/jobs/pack-sqlserver-package-ci-job.yml	Requires an explicit pack image.
eng/pipelines/jobs/pack-logging-package-ci-job.yml	Requires an explicit pack image.
eng/pipelines/jobs/pack-azure-package-ci-job.yml	Requires an explicit pack image.
eng/pipelines/jobs/pack-abstractions-package-ci-job.yml	Requires an explicit pack image.
eng/pipelines/dotnet-sqlclient-ci-core.yml	Supplies explicit images to core stages and jobs.
eng/pipelines/common/templates/stages/ci-run-tests-stage.yml	Passes matrix images as poolImage.
eng/pipelines/common/templates/jobs/ci-run-tests-job.yml	Standardizes test-job image handling.
eng/pipelines/common/templates/jobs/ci-code-coverage-job.yml	Requires an explicit coverage image.
eng/pipelines/common/templates/jobs/ci-build-nugets-job.yml	Standardizes the NuGet build image parameter.
eng/pipelines/ci/stress/sqlclient-ci-stress-stage.yml	Updates stress-job image arguments.
eng/pipelines/ci/stress/sqlclient-ci-stress-pipeline.yml	Updates the secrets-stage image argument.
eng/pipelines/ci/stress/sqlclient-ci-stress-job.yml	Standardizes stress-job image handling.
eng/pipelines/ci/package/sqlclient-ci-package-pipeline.yml	Renames the queue-time image parameter while retaining its default.
eng/pipelines/ci/managed-instance/sqlclient-ci-managed-instance-stage.yml	Updates managed-instance job arguments.
eng/pipelines/ci/managed-instance/sqlclient-ci-managed-instance-job.yml	Standardizes the managed-instance image parameter.
eng/pipelines/ci/kerberos/sqlclient-ci-kerberos-pipeline.yml	Updates the coverage-job image argument.

Review details

• Files reviewed: 33/33 changed files
• Comments generated: 0
• Review effort level: Balanced

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[Copilot]

🟡 Changes recommended

Unresolved conflict markers invalidate the Kerberos YAML, and managed-instance callers still use the removed parameter name.

Once you've addressed the issues Copilot identified, you can request another Copilot review.

Review details

• Files reviewed: 32/32 changed files
• Comments generated: 2
• Review effort level: Balanced

[Copilot]

🟡 Changes recommended

Managed-instance callers are now incompatible with the renamed required parameter, and the Kerberos templates were omitted from the stated repository-wide rename.

Once you've addressed the issues Copilot identified, you can request another Copilot review.

Review details

Suppressed comments (1)

eng/pipelines/ci/managed-instance/sqlclient-ci-managed-instance-job.yml:75

• All four callers in sqlclient-ci-managed-instance-stages.yml still pass vmImage (lines 56, 70, 82, and 100). Because this renamed parameter has no default, Azure template expansion will receive an unexpected vmImage key and no required poolImage, so the managed-instance pipeline cannot compile. Rename those caller keys to poolImage.

  - name: poolImage

• Files reviewed: 31/31 changed files
• Comments generated: 1
• Review effort level: Balanced

[Copilot]

🟢 Approval recommended

All required template call sites supply poolImage; only the non-blocking validation counts in the description need correction.

Review details

Suppressed comments (1)

Previously missed (1) — in code that hasn't changed since the last review.

eng/pipelines/ci/package/sqlclient-ci-package-pipeline.yml:46

• The validation counts are stale: the current tree has 21 poolImage declarations (20 required template parameters plus this queue-time parameter) and 41 textual template call sites, rather than 20 and 38. Please update the PR description and ensure the effective-image comparison covers all 41 call sites so its validation evidence matches the final diff.

• Files reviewed: 34/34 changed files
• Comments generated: 0 new
• Review effort level: Balanced

[codecov]

Codecov Report

✅ All modified and coverable lines are covered by tests.
✅ Project coverage is 64.04%. Comparing base (ce9f01b) to head (3d441a2).
⚠️ Report is 6 commits behind head on main.

❗ There is a different number of reports uploaded between BASE (ce9f01b) and HEAD (3d441a2). Click for more details.

HEAD has 1 upload less than BASE

Flag	BASE (ce9f01b)	HEAD (3d441a2)
CI-SqlClient	1	0

Additional details and impacted files

@@            Coverage Diff             @@
##             main    #4626      +/-   ##
==========================================
- Coverage   71.88%   64.04%   -7.84%     
==========================================
  Files         290      284       -6     
  Lines       45056    68006   +22950     
==========================================
+ Hits        32389    43557   +11168     
- Misses      12667    24449   +11782     

Flag	Coverage Δ
CI-SqlClient	?
PR-SqlClient-Project	64.04% <ø> (?)

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[Copilot]

🟢 Approval recommended

Template declarations, references, and callers are consistently aligned, with successful pipeline runs confirming expansion behavior.

Review details

• Files reviewed: 34/34 changed files
• Comments generated: 0 new
• Review effort level: Balanced

[Copilot]

🟢 Approval recommended

All renamed templates have explicit matching call-site values, and effective agent selection is preserved.

Review details

• Files reviewed: 34/34 changed files
• Comments generated: 0 new
• Review effort level: Balanced

[Copilot]

🟢 Approval recommended

All 41 affected call sites supply the required parameter, preserve their prior images, and have corroborating pipeline validation.

Review details

• Files reviewed: 34/34 changed files
• Comments generated: 0 new
• Review effort level: Balanced

[priyankatiwari08]

Verified every caller of the renamed templates passes poolImage; no stale vmImage/platformImage/imageOverride parameter references remain. One concern:

• sqlclient-ci-package-pipeline.yml: agentImage is a queue-time parameter, so renaming it breaks saved run configurations and any API/CLI trigger that passes agentImage.