To be clear, I am not asking about about version control, or capabilities of the back end, but the front with the tie in with the interested parties. (Contributors, Viewers, Users)
Would those that work with both TFS and VSTS, would you say that TFS and VSTS have all the same "Visual" components (comparable version coalition) with the difference of placement being:
TFS is to SERVER (Designated/Local Server)
VSTS is to CLOUD (Online servers)
I have read all of the comparable but none talk to this aspect that I can find.
i.e. do you see the same portal pages and project counter parts in TFS as you do in VSTS?
Suggest you first go through the official doc from MSDN: Understand differences between VSTS and TFS
VSTS is the cloud offering that provides a scalable, reliable, and globally available hosted service. It is backed by a 99.9% SLA,
monitored by our 24-7 operations team, and available in local data
centers around the world.
Team Foundation Server is the on-premises offering built on a SQL Server backend. Organizations typically choose on-premises TFS when
they need their data to stay within your network, or they want access
to SharePoint sites and SQL Server reporting services that integrate
with TFS data and tools.
Fundamental differences between TFS and VSTS
Scope and scale data
Authentication
Users and groups
Manage user access
Security and data protection
Key feature differences between VSTS and TFS
Process customization
Reporting
You could review the details for the front with the tie in with the interested parties. (Contributors, Viewers, Users)
Back to your question, *do they have the same Project pages to display to users? * It's basically the same, 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.
Also take a look at this similar question: Future of TFS vs VSTS
Related
We are going to work together with another company which using TFS/Octopus Deploy.
The item is currently in phase one, which includes building the platform and ensuring that all components work together cohesively.
I'm confused with the license required with TFS. It's easy to understand the license for TFS server. However, there seems to be a client license for each client, why we need two license for a product? And what's the association with TFS client license / VS or MSDN subscription?
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).
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 2017 Licensing
As you have already stated you need a license for TFS itself, but if you have a single Visual Studio subscription this is included.
Clients connecting to TFS might need a license depending on the access level needed. A lot of the planning features are free (stakeholder level) whereas source code and more advanced features will require either a Basic (most features except Test) or Enterprise (all features) level access.
Basic level can be obtained by either buying it directly through VSTS or by buying a product that includes a CAL license e.g. Visual Studio subscription.
For smaller teams, you can use TFS/VSTS for free but with a maximum of 5 users.
You can read more on the Team Foundation Server pricing page.
I am a part of the team where the TFS 2012 is being used. I am not sure I can get SQL access to the TFS Warehouse. So like to know if it is possible to reconstruct the TFS Warehouse or Analysis service on my local machine. Is there any web services exposed via TFS 2012? Does it need any special permission.
I looking for TFS Analysis database as per http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms244699%28v=vs.110%29.aspx
After lot of research found that it is not possible. The main missing information is the relationship between the items. like User story to tasks relationship. Without this we can not do much.
I have figured out that TFS 2010 has the following web service endpoint
http://tfsservername:8080/tfs/TeamFoundation/Administration/v3.0/WarehouseControlService.asmx
Are there ones to get a feed of check-ins, work items and other TFS items?
Update: yes! Visual Studio Online introduced a new REST API, and on-premises installations of TFS 2013 have access to this new API.
In versions of TFS prior to TFS 2013:
tl;dr: Not in any way you're going to want to consume.
Team Foundation Server does expose SOAP web services that the clients use to talk to it. However, it's not something that is publicly documented, it's not supported by Microsoft (meaning they can, and will, change version to version) and, quite frankly, it's remarkably unlikely that the effort required will be worth the result.
Although the web services are well designed, some of the web services require a significant amount of client state. This is particularly true of the work item tracking web services. The clients basically contain an entire "rules engine" for processing and verifying changes to any fields. The client must, basically, be able to understand the process template and process all these state changes before submitting an updated work item back to the server. The server will also run the rules and verify that the client made only legal changes.
The rules engine is not exposed publicly. You would have to reverse engineer it.
This also makes some underlying assumptions like your web services stack can successfully speak NTLM2 and Kerberos properly (most can't, outside of the .NET web services stack, although some an support NTLM version 1 to some degree, which will only give you the illusion that you should be authenticating.)
It's therefore strongly suggested that you just use one of Microsoft's APIs for accessing TFS, either the .NET or the Java SDK.
(I actually worked for a third-party company that successfully wrote a Java front-end to TFS by talking to the web services. It was a fair challenge for us -- especially the work item implementation -- and this was the full-time job for several of us. I wouldn't recommend it as a side project.)
Just like Edward mentioned, the TFS web services aren't meant for public consumption.
On the other hand, you might want to give the "OData Service for Team Foundation Server" a try.
It offers a really nice REST-like interface - thus callable simply by issuing HTTP requests, just like you were willing to do with the web services.
To learn more, check this blog post: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/briankel/archive/2011/10/26/odata-service-for-team-foundation-server-2010-v1.aspx
We currently have an existing issue tracker, which the service management team utilise for logging user reported issues.
What I would like to do is create a server based (probably web-ui) system that can query the issue tracker for bugs assigned to the dev team.
Then someone from the Dev team will come along and review these issues via a UI, assign and prioritise and file them as one or more work items per issue.
All the Dev team has suitable licences VIA MSDN to TFS, what I am not sure about is if the service management team needs access licences ?
See The VS 2010 / TFS 2010 Licensing White Paper. The key bit is this section:
Client Access Licenses
A CAL entitles one user or device to
access any number of licensed
instances of Team Foundation Server
running within an organization.
A CAL is required for users (or
devices) who:
Directly write data to Team Foundation Server.
Indirectly write data to Team Foundation Server through another
software application or device (see
Multiplexing below).
A CAL is not required for users who:
Access Team Foundation Server only for purposes of entering new work
items (see New Work Items below).
Receive Team Foundation Server reports through e-mail and do not
directly or indirectly access the
server to refresh, create, or update
data.
View static data that has been manually distributed outside of Team
Foundation Server.
In addition, a Team Foundation Server
CAL is not required for:
Any device running a licensed copy of Team Foundation Server or an agent
included with Team Foundation Server.
Up to two devices or users that only access Team Foundation Server for
purposes of system administration.
Up to five designated users when Team Foundation Server is purchased
through a retail channel (as described
above under Obtaining Visual Studio
Team Foundation Server 2010.)
Interacting with a server running Team Foundation Server, but not
interacting with Team Foundation Server itself or its data.
So, my interpretation (and I'm not a lawyer, nor a person qualified to speak about Microsoft licensing - just a guy on StackOverflow...) is:
If you are creating the web page over the data in your existing issue tracking system, and just enabling an easy way for developers (who are already licensed for access to TFS) to create work items from that data then I think you are fine. If you wanted the people in the service management team to be able to create/edit work items belonging to others then interact with that work item data later then I think you would need CAL's.
Hope that makes sense. For the official word on licensing, always best to reach out to your local Microsoft representative. If you need help getting in contact with that person then let me know.
We're using TFS for source control and are trialling using the TFS work item tracking. I am trying to find out, is it possible for people who don't have visual studio installed to access, create and edit work items via a browser based user interface?
Our technical support team need to be able to use work items. TFS work items won't be suitable for our company if the support team and project managers can't get sufficient access.
I'm not familiar with how the licensing works either. If there is a way for non visual studio users to use TFS work items, will they need a license?
The are a number of choices (most costing money):
Team System Web Access
Team System Web Access (formerly known as TeamPlain) is a Web interface to Visual Studio 2005 Team Foundation Server. Team System Web Access is available as a free download for existing Team Foundation Server users, and will be incorporated into a future release of Visual Studio Team System.
Work Item Only View
Team System Web Access provides a work item only view that restricts functionality so that you can create and view only your own work items. This view is designed to facilitate working with Team Foundation Server when you do not have a client access license (CAL). You do not need a CAL to create new work items or to view and update work items that you created. The work item only view restricts functionality so that you are in compliance with this aspect of the Team Foundation Server end user license agreement. For more information, see Visual Studio Team System 2008 Licensing White Paper.
Outlook integration (from Brian Harry's blog)
Integration of Team Foundation Server work items into the Outlook user experience continues to be a popular area for innovation. Just recently an author sent me mail about a new one called Wit-It! that enables work item forms to be easily opened from TFS work item change notifications. It's not entirely unlike configuring links to Team System Web Access from event notifications but it uses local rich client UI that some will like better.
There are several other Outlook extension offerings out there with varying levels of completeness. If it's an area that iterests you, you can also check out:
TeamExpand
TeamLook
TeamCompanion
And I appologize if I left any out. As I say, clearly there is a lot of interest here and some creative people.
Team System Web Access is a good web-based option for non-visual studio users.
There should be a web interface, both a website and a SharePoint portal that gets installed with TFS. The portal will let you get to the documents and view some reports. The website will let you work with the documents, the source control, work items, and bug reporting.
As far as licensing goes, a full-blown TFS user requires a TFS CAL (in addition to the normal Windows Server CAL).
However, for particular types of 'light' users a TFS CAL might not be required (I'm not sure, but I'd think that a Windows Server CAL would still be required). See http://blogs.msdn.com/bharry/archive/2007/11/23/tfs-licensing-change-for-tfs-2008.aspx for some details.
As always, MS server application licensing requirements are often quite complicated - you will need to do your own research (probably in consultation with MIcrosoft) to determine your actual licensing requirements.