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.
Related
I`m trying to understand the licensing of MSDN. If I just want to perform check in/out , see History and similar operations as a member of a TFS Team of Developers Do I need an MSDN license ?
Thank you very much
To license TFS server , 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, if you want users to check in/out, view source control history, you still need a CAL. Which means you still need a MSDN subscription to handle this. Unless, people who just access work items – simply assign them “Stakeholder” access, which is free.
Unlike the Classic Purchasing above, if you don't want to buy a MSDN subscription.
Suggest you to use Modern Purchasing.
The most advantage: No need to make a 3-year purchasing commitment for
TFS—you can pay month-to-month and cancel any time. For example: 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.
For more info you could take a look at this official doc: Team Foundation Server Pricing
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/
Can a MSDN Visual Studio Professional subscriber be added as user to two or more TFS and/or VSTS accounts? I am setting up our own VSTS account and I want to add a contractor as a user with MSDN VS Professional subscription but he also uses it to access his company's TFS. Thanks.
This MS document does not answer my question explicitly.
Some subscriptions are provided through the MPN (Microsoft Partner Network) and most of these are only allowed to be used for company internal product development. These rules are pretty strict, they can never be used by external people to develop software for you or to access your systems.
Visual Studio Subscriptions through Microsoft Partner Network(MPN)
Visual Studio subscriptions offered through the Microsoft Partner Network cannot be used for direct revenue-generating
activities, such as providing consulting services, customizing a packaged application for a specific customer, or building a
custom application for a customer, for a fee.
https://assets.microsoft.com/cs-cz/MPN-MAPS-Product-Usage-Guide.pdf
If the external partner has a "retail" MSDN subscription they may use this to access any VSTS account. They cannot use it to access a TFS server unless it's owned by their own organisation.
These same Visual Studio subscribers
are granted a Team Foundation Server 2018 User CAL to be used within their organization (it is not valid for use of
Team Foundation Server acquired by a different organization)
https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Visual-Studio-2018-Licensing-Whitepaper-November-2017.pdf
The owning organisation of a Team Foundation Server must still purchase a CAL or a VSTS Basic User for each external party accessing their TFS server:
External contractors with Visual Studio Enterprise Subscription, Visual Studio Enterprise – annual, Visual Studio Enterprise –
monthly, MSDN Platforms, or Visual Studio Test Professional Subscription subscriptions supplied by their organization can
also access these features in Team Foundation Servers running at other organizations. However, a Team Foundation Server
CAL purchased by the organization that licensed the Team Foundation Server must be assigned to each of these users.
https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Visual-Studio-2018-Licensing-Whitepaper-November-2017.pdf
You can satisfy the TFS CAL requirement using a VSTS Basic user:
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.
https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/team-services/tfs-pricing/
Visual Studio Team Services doesn't have this restriction:
Visual Studio Team Services Benefits for Visual Studio Subscribers
All Visual Studio subscribers (standard and cloud) who have activated their subscription can create or join any Visual
Studio Team Services account at no additional charge. Additional extensions are also available to Visual Studio subscribers
at no extra charge (table with extensions provided per subscription type).
https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Visual-Studio-2018-Licensing-Whitepaper-November-2017.pdf
So it all boils down to:
Is the subscription provided through MPN?
If yes, they cannot use that license to access VSTS or TFS in another organisation nor use it to develop software for these other organisations.
If no... continue:
What are you accessing?
VSTS: They can use the license to develop software and to access any VSTS account.
TFS: They can use the license to develop software but not access your TFS server without a CAL/VSTS Basic User.
Accessing TFS: Have you purchased and assigned a CAL/VSTS Basic User
VSTS Basic user: They can assess your VSTS account and they can access your TFS server.
TFS CAL: They can access your TFS Server
The easiest and in most cases the cheapest license for these external parties is the VSTS Basic User option, especially since these can get reassigned at any time and can be ended every month. Or to switch to VSTS, where all non-MPN-subscribers will be allowed to access and develop software for your organisation without additional administration or costs.
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
Does a local TFS license cost the same as a VSTS on Azure? What will be the best licensing option to have TFS on-premise?
No, there are not the same.
To license TFS on-premise server, 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.
TFS server costs $499 and includes 5 TFS CALs. Additional TFS CALs are $499 each.
Unlike the Classic Purchasing above, suggest you to use Modern Purchasing. The most advantage: No need to make a 3-year purchasing commitment for TFS—you can pay month-to-month and cancel any time. For example:
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.
For more info you could take a look at this official doc: Team Foundation Server Pricing
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/
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.