We are looking to carry out the following TFS upgrades in our Production environment:
Upgrade TFS 2010 to TFS 2013.5
Upgrade TFS 2013.5 to TFS 2019
To support both migrations, we have a Windows Server 2019 Standard edition to host the Application Tier. The Data Tier is to be installed on a dedicated SQL box.
The Microsoft website however lists Windows Server 2012 (Essentials, Standard, Datacenter) as the latest server operating system edition required for TFS 2013.
My question therefore is, can we still perform this planned upgrade to TFS 2013 on a newer edition of Windows Server, in our case Windows Server 2019 Standard edition?
I agree with Daniel, please follow the documentation exactly.
Since you can upgrade from TFS 2010 --> TFS 2012.3 --> TFS 2019, or from TFS 2010 --> TFS 2013.5 --> TFS 2019, you could consider trying to upgrade from TFS 2010 to TFS 2012.3 or TFS 2013.5 on the same Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise server, and then migrate to Windows Server 2019 Standard edition when upgrade to DevOps Server 2019.1.1(TFS 2019.1.1).
"Supported" means "tested and known to work". Later OS versions haven't been tested and may not work, or TFS may not even install in the first place.
I've done dozens of TFS upgrades in my day. My suggestion is to follow the documentation provided by Microsoft exactly. If an OS isn't listed as a supported OS, then don't use that OS.
So after much to-ing and fro-ing and numerous debates and suggestions from various sources on Stackoverflow, in the end this is how I managed to successfully complete my migration upgrade from TFS 2010 to Azure DevOps Server (TFS) 2019.1
There are however 5 very important points I wish to emphasise:
This was a complete migration upgrade (not an In-place upgrade) and so each move to a later TFS version was done using new/replacement hardware.
Both upgrades were done, based on the excellent YouTube tutorial by Mohamed Radwan which can be found here and relies heavily on the TFSBackup and TFSRestore utilities, both of which have shipped with all versions of TFS, I believe since the 2012 edition.
I only migrated the TfsConfiguration database and our Project database.
There was no migration of SharePoint.
There was no migration of Reporting Services.
We had no scheduled backups set up in the TFS 2010 Admin console.
TFS 2010 to TFS 2013 - Some Useful Points to Note
The backup of my TFS 2010 databases were executed from the Tools directory of the TFS 2013 instance (once installed), on the new dedicated hardware for my app tier.
Following a successful database restore using the TFSRestore utility, there are generally three key tasks required which use the TFSConfig tool to ensure data integrity between the two TFS instances aren't compromised or corrupted. These are the PrepareClone, ChangeServerID and RemapDB tasks executed in this same order.
The PrepareClone task failed when executed and after days of trying to troubleshoot the issue, I gave up in the end due mainly to the fact that the PrepareClone command removes information about scheduled backups, SharePoint, and Reporting resources from an Azure DevOps Server deployment and is used in two circumstances:
When you move a deployment to new hardware but want to keep using the old deployment.
When you clone an Azure DevOps Server deployment.
We didn't have any scheduled backups, SharePoint or Reporting Services included within the scope of our migration and were certainly not planning to keep using the old deployment long-term, except for a few days of validation and testing of the migration upgrade. As such, I ignored the error.
I was also counting on the fact that if the ChangeServerID command run successfully, this would ensure that the two instances were now discrete anyway, having been assigned unique GUIDs. Fortunately, the ChangeServerID task succeeded.
I also then executed the RemapDB command but in truth this wasn't even required as the ChangeServerID command had already completed the remapping task.
From this point on, the migration went like a dream and there was absolutely no issues encountered. Another key point to add, the backup of our TFS 2010 instance was done only after I'd ensured there was no user logged onto the system and following the backup, I took the 2010 instance completely offline.
TFS 2013 to Azure DevOps Server (TFS) 2019.1 - Some Useful Points to Note
Again using the TFSBackup and TFSRestore utilities (this time from the Azure DevOps Server 2019.1 Tools directory) and pretty much repeating the steps for the previous migration upgrade, I managed to get us onto our target 2019 instance without single hitch.
Even better, with Azure DevOps 2019, the TFSConfig PrepareClone, ChangeServerID and RemapDB tasks have been incorporated into the app tier configuration wizard, meaning you're not required to manually run them from the commandline. The tool takes care of it for you in its entirety, which is excellent!!
The new Pre-Production Upgrade option enabled me to simulate and somehow perform a dry-run of the final upgrade, another excellent feature incorporated into the Server Configuration Wizard for Azure DevOps Server 2019.1
My Concluding Remarks
Judging by how easy and simple it was to use, its heavy use of automation and clearly being far less likely to result in any disaster, I am rather surprised the TFSBackup and TFSRestore tools aren't recommended as perhaps the current best migration options, subject of course to the type of migration targeted.
I have done TFS upgrades in the past which were based on the older process of quiescing the project collection, detaching and re-attaching the database(s) to the target instance, etc, etc and must admit there's hardly any chance I'd be going back to that in future if I can help it, as the TFSBackup and TFSRestore tools are a much, much better, safer and reliable option in my view.
Hopefully, this feedback will help the next person who may embark on a similar journey to upgrade TFS from the 2010 edition to a later version.
I found migration guide which uses command line. However, since there is no TFS server, I can't use the TFS migration tool.
A few workaround ideas I have ...
Can I export data from SQL Server directly and then import that into VSTS?
Can I install TFS (fresh new install on new VM) and connect to the existing SQL Server somehow?
I have no idea if above idea would work. If not, what possible options do I have?
Just reinstall the TFS application tier. When the wizard opens, you can choose "Application Tier Only" which will walk you through connecting it to the databases.
Make sure you reinstall the same version of TFS you were using before (including Update) -- if you were using TFS 2015 Update 3 before, reinstall TFS 2015 Update 3. Don't try to install Update 4 or Update 2.
I have a question about in-place upgrading from Team Foundation Server 2010 to Team Foundation Server 2015
Our current situation contains the following software versions:
- Windows Server 2008 R2
- SQL Server 2008 R2
- Team foundation Server 2010
We would like to perform an in-place upgrade of this server to the following new versions.
- Windows Server 2012 R2
- SQL Server 2014
- Team Foundation Server 2015
It is a single server installation on a VMWare environment. Adding additional resources is not a problem. So for that reason we would like to go for an in-place upgrade.
With the information I found on https://msdn.microsoft.com/library/vs/alm/tfs/administer/requirements it does not seem to be possible with our current SQL version to upgrade to TFS 2015 in one go.
Should we first upgrade to TFS 2012 (which still supports SQL Server 2008 R2)? Then upgrade to SQL 2012 SP1, then TFS 2015..and so on.
Or should it be easier in our situation to migrate the TFS 2010 databases to an new server with all the latest versions and then upgrade the databases (and so not performing an in-place upgrade after all)?
There is a lot of documentation describing various migration scenario's so that is causing some confusion.
Can someone give us some suggestions or answer on what is the best way forward?
What you could do is:
Uninstall TFS from the current server
Uninstall SQL Server on the current server
Install SQL Server 2014 on it
Attach the databases to the SQL Server 2014
Install TFS 2015 and walk through the upgrade wizard.
It's sort of an in-place upgrade. Indeed be aware of the Sharepoint issue, it will be your pressing reason to make in in-between upgrade stop along the way, should you need it.
I see many client de-coupling Sharepoint from TFS anyway, as the Sharepoint functionality is rarely used, or even known.
Something else to consider. If you're using any of the sharepoint functionality in TFS 2010, and you want to keep the stuff stored there, then you'll probably want to upgrade to TFS 2012 anyway. TFS 2010 uses WSS 3.0 and TFS 2015 uses the latest version of sharepoint express. There is no direct migration from WSS 3.0 to the latest version so you'll need to use the bundled version in TFS 2012 as an intermediary upgrade.
If sharepoint isn't an issue then I'd suggest building out new infrastructure and migrating the TFS databases. This will be easier and IMHO has a couple of other benefits.
you can do a test migration to flush out any additional issues
get some timings so you know how long the real migration will take
2 days ago I did the following test upgrade from TFS 2005 to 2010 then to 2012 (I am not configuring Reporting or Sharepoint)
Backed up the 6 TFs 2005 databases
Restored them on the Sql 2008 server used by TFS 2010
Ran TFSconfig setup uninstall:ALL on the TFS 2010 application server (as I had a test site setup)
Opened the TFS 2010 admin window and did an upgrade
Detached my TFS2010 collection and did an import process to TFS2012
Yesterday, I wanted to try the process again to make sure that I had all the steps down.
So I did some initial cleanup
Deleted all the databases on the TFS 2010 Sql server
Detached the test collection on TFS 2012 and then delete the associated database
and then I restarted the steps but it gets stuck at step #4
Backed up the 6 TFs 2005 databases
Restored them on the Sql 2008 server used by TFS 2010
Ran TFSconfig setup uninstall:ALL on the TFS 2010 application server
Opened the TFS 2010 admin window and did an upgrade
The error I get on step #4 is
TF254024: No database for Team Foundation Serer that can be upgraded were found on the following instance... Verify that you specified the correct name of the server and the instance.
I've double checked the name of the server & instance.
Made sure that the account that is running the upgrade has full permissions.
I'm not sure what else to do. My searching hasn't proved that fruitful.
I figured out the issue.
When I was testing out the deploy the first time, we were trying to do a migration instead of an upgrade. We had added 2 extended properties to the master table from the TFSIntegration database (based on another error).
I removed both those extended properties and I was able to start the upgrade.
edit 1-
I tried the process again (restore database and try to do the upgrade). The extented properties were back again.
so running this script fixed the process.
USE TfsIntegration;
GO
EXEC sp_dropextendedproperty
#name = N'TFS_DATABASE_CATEGORIES';
GO
EXEC sp_dropextendedproperty
#name = N'TFS_INSTANCE';
GO
I'm testing a TFS 2010 install. I have the server set up and TFS 2010 installed. I have imported the projects from the existing TFS2008 server by doing backup's and loading them into the new sql server and then doing the import, which allworks fine.
How ever how do i get the Sharepoint site moved to the new server.
Environment is a single server install with TFS, SQL and sharepoint running on the same box. this is the same for 2008 and 2010.
thanks
I'm not sure that you wanted to do your migration this way. The TFS 2010 installation wizard includes an upgrade path, which should take care of all aspects of the upgrade for you.