I need to setup TFS 2017 for 20 developers/analysts. Usage will be mostly for code repository, therefore 1 server only with TFS 2017/8 and SQL 2017. I need to know the licensing requirements for TFS application only, I know for SQL. We plan on using SSRS, but not SharePoint. Will a Visual Studio subscription cover for the TFS license for server and does it have to be Enterprise or Professional subscription is OK? What license will be the most economical for the rest of 19 users?
Thank you,
Will a Visual Studio subscription cover for the TFS license for server
and does it have to be Enterprise or Professional subscription is OK?
Yes, Visual Studio subscriptions include a server license for TFS, plus a TFS CAL for the subscriber
What license will be the most economical for the rest of 19 users?
It's based on your real requirements. Client access licenses (CALs) aren’t required for people who just access work items – assign them “Stakeholder” access, which is free.
If the users want to work on codes, then they need client access licenses...
Extensions to TFS such as Test Manager, Package Management, and Private Pipelines require an additional purchase. Some TFS Extensions are included with Visual Studio Enterprise subscriptions and many others are free. Paid extensions can also be purchased monthly, no Visual Studio subscription is required.
Please see Team Foundation Server 2018 Licensing for details, it also applies to TFS 2017.
Related
I have a TFS Administrator who does not develop or use Visual Studio. They only use TFS through the Web UI. Do they need to have an MSDN, all they are really doing is setting access levels.
TFS is licensed on a Server/CAL model. Thus, you need 1 Server license for the TFS server and 1 TFS CAL (client access license) for each user that will use TFS features.
That TFS CAL covers the usage no matter how the user accesses TFS (i.e. Visual Studio, Eclipse, Web Access client, Excel, MSProject, 3rd party tool, ect, etc).
Client access licenses (CALs) aren’t required for people who just access work items – assign them “Stakeholder” access, which is free.
So in your scenario, to manage the TFS they need CALs (client access license), Visual Studio/MSDN subscription is needed.
The two ways to acquire TFS CALs are:
Purchase a TFS User CAL
1 TFS CAL (and 1 TFS Server license) is included in each Visual
Studio/MSDN subscription. Thus, anyone who has an active MSDN
subscription assigned to them is covered with a TFS CAL.
Client access licenses (CALs) aren’t required for people who just
access work items – assign them “Stakeholder” access, which is
free.
Extensions to TFS such as Test Manager, Package Management,
and Private Pipelines require an additional purchase. Some TFS
Extensions are included with Visual Studio Enterprise subscriptions
and many others are free. Paid extensions can also be purchased
monthly, no Visual Studio subscription is required.
More details please refer below two blogs:
Understand TFS Licensing
Team Foundation Server 2018 Licensing
I am new to TFS admin configuration. I have installed a TFS 2018 in one of the server and now facing connectivity issue to MTM.
So I came to know that I should have a valid license and I also got the license.
Can anyone tell meWhere or How to upgrade my TFS 2018 License
Thanks
To license TFS 2018, you’ll need a TFS server license and a
Windows operating system license (Windows Server is best) for each
machine running TFS, plus a client access license for each person
connecting to TFS. Client access licenses (CALs) aren’t required for
people who just access work items – assign them “Stakeholder” access,
which is free.
Extensions to TFS such as Test Manager, Package Management, and
Private Pipelines require an additional purchase. Some TFS Extensions
are included with Visual Studio Enterprise subscriptions and many
others are free. Paid extensions can also be purchased monthly, no
Visual Studio subscription is required.
In your case, for every MSDN subscription that you own, you will also have a TFS server licenses. So, theoretically, you could install as many TFS servers as you have MSDN subscriptions.
To use the features MTM, you must have either a Visual Studio
Enterprise subscription, or have installed the Test Manager
extension available from Visual Studio Marketplace.
More details please refer: Connect Microsoft Test Manager to your team project and test plan
Besides, If you want to double confirm this and know more information about TFS license, you could call 1-800-426-9400, Monday through Friday, 6:00 A.M. to 6:00 P.M. (Pacific Time) to speak directly to a Microsoft licensing specialist, and you can get more detail information from there. Worldwide customers can use the Guide to Worldwide Microsoft Licensing Sites to find contact information in their locations: http://www.microsoft.com/licensing/
Is Microsoft still working on both products? Has development on TFS been dropped in favour of VSTS?
For context, we are using TFS right now and VSTS clearly has better integration. Specifically with Microsoft Teams and ZenDesk which is important to getting our workflow process in a more manageable state. However, VSTS doesn't have anywhere near the configuration or reporting that we require.
Will either product eventually have the full feature set or will we have to choose and build our own integrations or reporting?
Now Azure DevOps and Azure DevOps Server, but the rest of the story remains intact.
Visual Studio Team Services (VSTS) and Team Foundation Server (TFS) are based on the same codebase. VSTS is deployed to the cloud every 3 weeks or faster. TFS has received a major upgrade yearly (2015, 2017, 2018) and a major update pack every 3 to 4 months (2015.0-3, 2017.0-3, 2018.0-1).
Most new features are released to Visual Studio Team Services first and are integrated into Team Foundation Server with a bit of a delay. Some features are available in VSTS which depend on cloud resources, so they're not likely to move to TFS anytime soon.
With regards to reporting, this has been a bit of an Achilles' heel of VSTS. It has never had the Report Server and Analysis Cube capabilities of TFS. It does offer integration with PowerBI and that integration is quickly getting better.
You can see the overview of feature availability between cloud (VSTS) and server (TFS) on the Feature Timeline, as you can see a lot of new things happening, most of them are hitting VSTS first.
Microsoft offers a support lifecycle for Team Foundation Server and currently, it looks like Microsoft won't abandon their on-premise customers anytime soon. TFS 2018 has an extended support lifecycle all the way to 2028:
Products Released Lifecycle Start Date Mainstream Support End Date Extended Support End Date Service Pack Support End Date Notes
Visual Studio Team Foundation Server 2018 11/15/2017 1/10/2023 1/11/2028
We have TFS Server license which got along with MSDN. But we need to have more CALS as more users need to access our TFS Server.
TFS CAL license cost more, when we look for an alternate we found that VSTS CALS can be used to access TFS On Premises Server.
Could any one can confirm whether it is right or wrong?
Yes, VSTS CAL's include access to TFS.
Team Foundation Server Pricing
Buy VSTS for TFS CALs. When you buy VSTS users (starting at $6/month), those same users have a TFS CAL and can connect to any TFS in your organization. If those users also need TFS extensions like Test Manager or Package Management, or if you need additional Private Pipelines for your team, you can purchase these through the Visual Studio Marketplace. All VSTS charges are month-to-month. See detailed instructions.
I have TFS server, and I have a remote team that will work off it, the problem is that they don't have VS license they user VWD 2010, how do i share source with them? I don't want to abandon the TFS but I cannot ask them to buy licenses for a small project.
Anyone who connects to a TFS server has to have a license.
If they are checking in / out code, then you need to have enough licenses to cover all of them. It's not their responsibility to have a client license, it's yours as the owner of the TFS Server.