Here some information about our setup. I feel I need to provide this information in order to better explain why I want to do this.
We have all our dev environment in VM. This way we can switch easily between different version of the product. We work over an awfully slow vpn (downloading the source take 30 min to 1 hour). The code is tightly integrated with the OS (COM registered, VB6 dll, OCX, etc.) so this is the best way for use to work currently.
I cannot change the way we work
I am currently setting up a base VM to distribute around team mates to get working faster. I want to download once the source code in this base and when team members start using the VM they recreate the workspace, point it to the existing code and just do a getlatest.
The problem is TFS doesn't recognize what is already in the folder and simply download everything directly.
How can I make TFS check what is present locally before downloading everything from the server? Like when you do a "normal getlatest".
Since you're using TFVC, you should set up a TFVC proxy server. The proxy server will allow you to synchronize your code from a fast, local source.
I have backup of TFS databases and I want to get my code files from it. Is it possible? If so, then what exactly do I need to do? TFS Version: 11.0.61030.0 (Tfs2012.Update4)
Whatever investigation I have done so far, it seems that the only way to restore the files is to install TFS 2012 on another machine, restore the database backups on that machine. And hopefully afterwards I should be able to download the files from this new TFS. I wanted to verify my procedure because I need to know if there is something missing in my understanding before I start the task.
Yes restore is the way to go, but you must be careful at some important details. I write as I remember:
Use the same version of TFS for the new environment.
The new environment is in the same Active Directory domain. If you are in a workgroup, must add additional steps to make, at least some, accounts match.
Restore from a marked transaction (this is done by the built-in backup/restore tool)
You will have two live system with the same identifier: this may confuse clients. To avoid run the tfsconfig ChangeServerID command.
If you restore the Configuration DB, must run TfsConfig RegisterDB.
For getting code this is enough, but consider that the new environment is still pointing to existing resources: build server, lab management.
If the TFS instance was already used, more steps are necessaries, like cleaning cache on AT.
I do not remeber a complete guidance: there are many variations on this topic. Make sure to study the content of Restore a deployment to new hardware
I have several websites that I manage for a company and they want me to transition to TFS. As part of their policy, I can only deploy files that have changed since the last deployment. I.e. if a view has changed then it gets deployed, if it has not changed then it not part of the deployment package. They use automated tools for the deployments.
Currently I use a custom tool I wrote that hooks into my local source provider (Vault Pro) and finds all the changes from a given date and copies those files to a zip file.
How can I accomplish something similar with Team Foundation Server?
TFS provides you with an SDK that you could use to query it from code. Here's the documentation of the client API.
Is there a way to backup just the source control component of a team project and restore it into a different TFS server? We setup a TFS 2010 server for RND, but decided to use it's source control manager for a development project. We did this so the developers can learn how to work with it before we use it on a much bigger project. Now, we need to blow away the server since it is a VM for RND. We're going to setup a new TFS server for production. I don't want to lose the source code history.
Yes, you can use the TFS Integration Tools to migrate source with history for one or more Team Projects to another server. It is very easy to use.
TFS Integration Tools Download
I hope this helps
Mike
Use the features built into the product. In Dev10, collections were added so artifacts (including source) would be portable between TFS servers - leverage that. Pilot projects were a key scenario for portable artifacts and a justification for collections.
Dettach the collection from the VM TFS instance. It's available from the collection node of the admin console.
Backup the database from the database you dettached.
Deploy the new real server (non-VM).
Restore that collection database to the sql server used for the production instance.
Using the administration console collections node, attach the collection to the newly deployed TFS server.
Now you have the source available from the prototype period and you have a new production collection available for the new production instance.
BTW, in Dev 11 (you can get build conference CTP or beta soon) TFS upgrades the collection on attach so if you deploy a Dev11 TFS server, you can attach that prototype collection and pull it forward.
OK, I've been convinced that SVN is the way to go in a previous posting, but I haven't yet seen the epiphany. I'm not sure how I would set SubVersion up for my development environment.
Here's my current setup. I'm not keen to mess with it and it would be really nice if subversion could sit alongside it:
Work:
N:\Projects
N:\Projects\Lib
N:\Projects\App1
N:\Projects\App1\Help
N:\Projects\App1\Images
N:\Projects\App2
..etc
N: is on a separate server in the building.
There are several other development machines with the tools installed locally, but all development takes place referencing the files on the server - i.e. no source code is kept on the workstations.
Home
Laptop with same development toolset, and the sources in c:\Projects\App1.. etc, i.e. a mirror of the setup on n:\Projects at work.
The sources between N:\Projects and C:\Project are currently kept aligned with a custom app in conjunction with DropBox. File exclusions make sure that non-source files don't get sync'ed
I want to run SubVersion with this setup.
Where do I put the Repository?
Assuming I can have the repository in
a mutually accessible place, will SVN
remove the current need to sync
between work and home?
In order to embrace Subversion, you will replace your shared source directory with a Subversion repository that lives on the server. Each developer workstation will check out a copy of the whole source code locally (however, this could be a private area on a network server if you like).
You could retain your N:\Projects tree as a read-only copy of the daily build, or whatever. But one of the goals of Subversion is to mediate between two people editing the same file at roughly the same time. This is not compatible with a shared directory containing writable source code. Also, having multiple developers "share" the same Subversion working directory in some way is doomed to failure.
Why not create an internet accessible (free) trial Subversion account, and play around a bit, to get yourself familiar, before you move your entire source code tree into it. Just so you don't delete everything you own, by accident. Maybe start with one dummy project. Host something on the internet. Without even paying a cent, you could use this site:
http://www.projectlocker.com/
Then you can set up your very own starter subversion server. You can create a brand new Delphi application (file -> new delphi application), and add a button, and double click that button, and write a message box thingy, or whatever it is you like to do in demo apps. Now create a subversion repository (perhaps they call them projects, up on project locker), and add the folders you saved this project into, to that repository.
Now you can play with (a) tortoise SVN, (b) the SVN integration build into Rad Studio XE, if you have Rad Studio XE, and (c) the version control plugins that come in the JCL, if you don't have Rad Studio XE.
Also, may I suggest that if you want to have any hope of knowing what you're doing you learn how to add and commit, and update, from the command line. It's really not that hard. And it will pay off later.
Knowing you can type svn co http://reposite.something.com/svn/myproject to check out a project to your disk, is very handy. Sometimes, I think GUIs are training wheels for your brain. You cripple yourself if you don't learn command lines.
A benefit to a hosted subversion service like the one I showed above, is that you have an offsite backup. Of course, such hosting is always free even for large projects, if you are writing something open source. Then you can host on sourceforge. Otherwise, you're going to (a) need to use your own internet accessible host or (b) pay for hosting, otherwise you're not going to be able to easily access your repository at home, and at work.
Personally, if it was my own business, or my professional job to write software, I would host my own subversion server, and it would be private (LAN) only, and I would use a VPN to access it from home.
1: You definitely want a repository accessible from both locations. Either that, you you will need to use a distributed versioning system, like Mercurial or Git
2: Yes, there will be no more need for your custom sync app. This is exactly the job for your versioning system. Syncing manually in addition to using SVN is not necessary and would even create lots of conflicts.
Your shared directory should be removed and a copy of the code present on each machine that is a working copy of the SVN repository.
Use your server with the files to place the SVN server on it or any server that all including your home computer have access to.
Commit / Update every day, multiple time a day and manage merges if needed .
For the home access the simplest is to either get a dedicated server on the net or redirect the correct port on your router (but you will obviously need some access control in place) so that your repository is accessible from outside. If needed you could limit access from your home IP or from a list of IPs with a good router.
The other solution as other said is another kind of version system called "distributed" where every commit is done locally in your own repository on your own PC and this repository is merged on the "main" repository to share code and the change of other members of the team are pulled back in your local repository (You don't need any "main" repository technically on a DVCS but for a company that's what you will have).
See Git or Mercurial for good DVCS (Git syntax sucks but it's the most widely used system and technically the best one).
Put the repository in the safest place. That usually means a good redundant server (disks, etc.), in a controlled server room, and one which is properly backed up. When you switch to a VCS, source code to work on is typically in local machines sandboxes, because each developer must have its own. Then changes are get and sent to/from the server. Be aware that some tools may have issue is on a remote directory, because of the way for example the SMB protocol works - check they are supported explicitly if you need to use them. Unless you have paramount security needs, IMHO working in local sanboxes is faster and easier.
If you can access the SVN server from home (i.e. via a VPN), it will be not different than working from the office. You will "sync" (update/commit) your laptop sandbox the same way, you don't need a local server and repository. If you need a local server (reason could be you can't access the central repository from outside, need to work disconnected yet version files, etc.) there could be ways to replicate across SVN servers, but at that point maybe a distributed VCS should work better in such scenario.