Now that Team Foundation Server is finally out, it's time to upgrade Beta/RC installations to this new version. Many teams who have been waiting for TFS and who didn't want to use the Beta versions can now rest assured the final version is among us -- you can download it from MSDN Subscriptions. There's a 5-person trial version available for free.
For TFS to be installed successfully on a server, you'll need:
- Windows Server 2003 (R2 is better)
- Windows SharePoint Services v2 (downloadable for free if you're not running Windows 2003 R2)
- SQL Server (full installation including Analysis & Reporting Services)
- A couple of .NET and SQL Server fixes (delivered with the installer)
- Active Directory (optional, if you're going for a multiserver, TFS-specific environment)
- The TFS installer (obviously).
Of course, to use TFS, you'll need Visual Studio 2005 Team Edition on the client, or at least Team Explorer, which comes as part of the TFS installation.
What's interesting abou the installer is that it verifies for you (since B3 Refresh), before installing, if your server is TFS-ready. This means checking CPU, disk and memory requirements as well as installed software and running services. The installer will simply refuse to continue when there are conditions that will cause Setup to fail -- such as the SQL Server Browser service not running. This is an impressive and useful feature that I hope will make its way into many more installers from now on!
Installing TFS, in other words, is a smooth if not time-consuming procedure. You need to make sure that you have all the necessary software, and that you stick to the procedure outlined in the installation manual. For instance, when installing Windows SharePoint Services, you have to configure it for server farm use, not single server, even if TFS will be running on a single machine. That's just what the TFS installation expects. It will auto-configure all other WSS properties for you, but that one you have to set yourself. So, after all else has failed, read the installation manual...
I love Team System. My team has been using it since December now, and I haven't seen anything on the market yet that can beat it. Source code control is as smooth and fast as it is with SourceGear Vault. Unit testing is super-integrated, including the generation of unit test stubs and code coverage. There's bug tracking, iteration tracking, you name it. If you don't want to use Team System's built-in support for CMMI or MSF Agile, then you can extend it to implement your own methodology. Excellent stuff and I'm sure we'll see many commercially avalable, or freeware, extensions on the market in the years to come.
I understand that many companies or teams are not sure yet about switching to Visual Studio 2005 or Team System, because of training time and liense costs. But this system is so smooth to operate and so useful, that it pays back for itself very quickly. Just think of your team's higher productivity, less time wasted on meetings etc.
Team System rocks!!