Hi Ralf,

Thanks for coming back to the forum on this one. I'd just like to clarify my understanding of what you're describing to make sure I understand this completely.

When a test exists in the processing queue, it can optionally be assigned to a server for execution. The effect of this is visible under the 'Server' column inside the processing queue window. If a test hasn't started executing yet and isn't assigned to a server, this field will be null. If it has started executing, this field will always be set to the server that is executing it.

... So this means that if you have a test that is marked to run locally (perhaps by right-clicking the test and choosing to execute it locally), then the test will not be able to execute until all relevant builds on the local machine have succeeded. This is because the NCrunch has been told to run the test only locally, and therefore will keep it off-grid.

This behaviour is different when compared to tests that are queued without a specific server, which will be executed by any machine on the grid that has completed the necessary builds.

So if what you're observing is that you have unprocessed tests in the processing queue marked to run locally only and the local queue is waiting for builds before running them, then this is behaviour as designed. The key thing to look for is the value under the 'Server' column in the processing queue ... if this field is null, then the tests should be able to run over the grid as soon as any of the nodes requests them from the queue.

If everything I've written above makes sense in your case, and you are asking that tests should be distributed when they are queued for local execution, I may need a bit more clarification on how these tests are being added to the queue and what your intentions are in this regard.

Gotcha - Sorry, I thought you were referring to an NCrunch build, rather than a VS one.

Looking at the code involved, there doesn't seem to be anything that would stop a grid node from picking up work from the processing queue while the engine is 'paused waiting for VS'. I've just done a quick test on this time and can confirm that the grid does still seem to continue to process tasks while the local engine is waiting for VS to do its thing.

I believe, however, that there is an exception to this behaviour. The local processor can still pick up tasks while VS is building - it just can't process them. This means that if you have a local processor with fairly high capacity, then it'll pick up the tasks and sit on them until VS has finished .. meanwhile denying grid nodes the chance to process them. I assume that this is the probably the exact situation you are being hit with. I'll make a note to see if I can improve how the engine handles this situation .. perhaps it would be possible to stop it from picking up any tasks until VS has finished its foreground build.