Team Server tips?

Rocky Moore

I am about to take on Team Foundation Server after having a background of pimarily Visual Source Safe. Where wuold be a good place online to start, tutuorials or tips? Any tips on installation on Windows 7?

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Joe Woodbury

Stand in front of a brick wall. 2) Run as hard as you can into it. 3) Repeat. I believe it can only be installed on Windows Server 2003 or 2008. You must first install IIS and SQL server.

Mustafa Ismail Mustafa

:rose: My sympathies. You are in for a looooooooong and troubling ride. Remember, don't mix alcohol with migraine medication. Or in this case you might want to. Word of advice. Read the installation manual VERY carefully.

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Dave Parker

Maybe try it out on a virtual machine first? Last time I looked at it, which was admittedly a few years ago, the installation was a right pain in the ***. The thing has so many dependencies, such as on the monstrosity that is Sharepoint - took me ages to get that to install properly and then that ended up being the most fragile part of the whole thing - just breaking randomly without any changes being made to it (a bit like my experiences with linux) but due to the dependencies bringing down source code control, project management etc with it. Good luck. :)

Rama Krishna Vavilala

Rocky Moore wrote:

Any tips on installation on Windows 7?

You cannot. You can only install it on Windows Server 2003 or 2008. I recently moved to Team Foundation Server and it is pretty good. I attempted to install it twice on previous occasions but failed as I kept doing something wrong. It took me a day and a half this time. Here are the steps which work the best:- 1. Install Windows 2003 and all related SPs. 2. Instal SQL Server 2005 with all options (you can use SQL Server 2008 but it is slightly more complex to install TFS on that). 3. Install Share Point 3.0 with SP2, make sure that you install stand alone version with the database. 4. Install TFS Late on you can:- 1. Move the SharePoint database to one in the SQL Server 2. Apply TFS SP1 3. Upgrade top SQL Server 2008. Also: When install team explorer before you instal VS 2008 Service Pack 1. Otherwise, you will have to repeat the install of Service Pack 1.

modified on Wednesday, August 26, 2009 8:46 PM

Mycroft Holmes · modified on Wednesday, August 26, 2009 8:46 PM

Holy hell, what happened to a "simple" solution. I see what you mean about dependencies, if you have to go through this many hoops just to get TFS it's not a wonder it has low penetration. Somewhat like their BI solution, the UI delivery is via Excel and it requires all of the other components except TFS. Seems MS is integrating all the server products along with Office

Rama Krishna Vavilala

Mycroft Holmes wrote:

I see what you mean about dependencies

It's a nightmare. I have never been able to successfully install it without any hoops. For example, if you install SQL Server 2008 before you install TFS, the you have to make sure that you patch the TFS setup files with TFS service pack 1. Not to mention that you should install VS2008 SP1 after installing TFS.

Mycroft Holmes wrote:

TFS it's not a wonder it has low penetration.

The price, I think is the main reason for low penetration. Also, TFS is targeted at large development teams.

Christian Graus

Rama Krishna Vavilala wrote:

The price, I think is the main reason for low penetration.

Agreed. I used to use it a lot, I got it free with MSDN. I loved it. I tried to talk work into it, and they were interested until they heard the price. They had 60 odd developers.

Christian Graus Driven to the arms of OSX by Vista. Read my blog to find out how I've worked around bugs in Microsoft tools and frameworks.

Rocky Moore · modified on Wednesday, August 26, 2009 8:46 PM

Thanks for the great tips!

Rocky <>< Recent Blog Post: Chocolate Chip Cookies!

Jason Christian

I had similar problems trying to get TFS installed just to test it out. Stay away from 64-bit too. It doesn't like it. If you have some money to spend (assuming you do if you are looking at TFS), give Accurev a try. It's a great source control tool, easy to manage branches (called streams in Accurev, basically the same, but much easier to work with), and has VS integration. Also integrates with numerous bug trackers, or you can roll your own integration with their APIs. My 2 cents.

Jeremy Likness

I had a pleasant experience with it. I simply followed the walkthroughs and guidance on patterns and practices. They have several guidance articles, like: Migrating from VSS http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms181247(VS.80).aspx[^] Team Foundation Administration Walkthroughs http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms181294(VS.80).aspx[^] Then ... Branching Guidance http://www.codeplex.com/BranchingGuidance[^] We migrated several projects from VSS with a long history without issue. Our setup includes a separate build box, a proxy server in the development office and the main TFS server out in our data center. We created a special TFS Admin account registered with Active Directory and used that account for all of the connectivity, logins, etc on the proxys, build box. We were able to migrate over a weekend and have the team up, running, and productive the next week. I spent just a few hours "here and there" to slowly start to set up integration builds, script the builds to copy over to live development sites, even generate database scripts (every day when I step foot in the office, we have the most recent version of the database built along with a completely installed and configured version of the application ready for unit testing). IMHO the "power tools" are a must. I use their extensions into VS 2008 to do things like customize Work Items, etc. If you have any questions feel free to contact me but for us it was a pleasant experience. I agree if you are just looking at source control, it might seem a pain. For us, though, it was going from a clunky source control system (VSS) that caused more grief and broke more often than it worked and couldn't handle branching well to save it's life ... to a new tool that branches, merges, builds, automates test runs, tracks tickets, integrates with project plans and even serves as a Wiki and document repository for all of our design, use case, etc. Great tool when you learn how to use it to its fullest potential!

Owen37

DITTO DITTO DITTO! We only have about 10 developers and the price is WAY PROHIBITIVE! I'd love to use it, but it just costs too much.

keozcigisoft

Look at MSDN but you will learn a lot faster if you just go and take your hands on it and play with the methodologies is very easy to use really when you get used to it and start playing with VSTS 2010 I think we will really need a book for that omg, unfortunately there are no books yet but as long as you learn about Microsoft Solutions Framework that is the base of VSTS you are set to go

keozcigisoft

BTW you cant install it on Windows 7 you need Windows Server

keozcigisoft

Oh and... You will bang your head on the wall several times before you successfully install it, but is our mistake, you have to read the setup manual very carefully and do as it says no more no less and you are set to go I have installed it about 6 times with no mistakes but the first install went about 5 tries all day work, you first understand Active Directory, understand Sharepoint and Reporting Services and then you can install TFS

keozcigisoft

It's free you know lol well for startups as me but if you really want to use it get yourself a MSDN subscription and is free, or get yourself an Action Pack being a registered Microsoft partner and comes free too

keozcigisoft

Yeah for VSTS 2008 you need 32 bit app tier but you can have 64 bit data tier, that changes on VSTS 2010 is 64 bit compatible cool!

Rama Krishna Vavilala

Glad to know that I am not the only one who made lot of attempts before being able to successfully install it. :)