Team Foundation Server 2010 and Team Foundation Build 2013

I was recently reading about the compatibility of Team Foundation Build Service and I was surprised to read that both Team Foundation Build Server 2010 and Team Foundation Build Server 2012 are supported on an installation of Team Foundation Server 2013!  

NOTE:  Older versions of Team Foundation Build are only supported on separate machines from the TFS App Server, so if your App Server and your Build Server reside on the same machine, you will either have to move your Build Server to a different machine or upgrade them both to TFS 2013.

Well, out of curiosity, I decided to determine if the reverse was true:  that is, would I be able to install Team Foundation Build Server 2013 on an installation of Team Foundation Server 2010?

I figured that this would probably fail, but decided to try it out anyway.

As I correctly presumed, the following error message appeared:

Therefore, you can continue to run Team Foundation Server Build 2010 and Team Foundation Server Build 2012 on a Team Foundation Server 2013 App installation, but not the reverse.  So if you are planning on upgrading your builds to Visual Studio 2013, plan to upgrade your installation of Team Foundation to Team Foundation Server 2013 first.

Upgrading from Team Foundation Server 2010 to Team Foundation Server 2013

Now that Team Foundation Server 2013 has RTM’ed, I decided to try and upgrade my Team Foundation Server 2010 environment to Team Foundation Server 2013.
After reviewing the System Requirements for Team Foundation Server 2013, I noticed the following things:

1. I would not be able to do an in-place upgrade to Team Foundation Server 2010.  I would have to uninstall Team Foundation Server 2010 from my Application Tier and then install Team Foundation Server 2013.  I would have to repeat this process of uninstalling and re-installing on my Build Service server as well.
2. Team Foundation Server 2013 requires SQL Server 2012 SP1 and above, however, my SQL Server data tier was running SQL Server 2008 R2 SP2.  Therefore, I would have to first upgrade my SQL Server to SQL 2012 SP1 before completing the installation of Team Foundation Server 2013 on my Application Tier.
3. Though I did not know this earlier, I also had to install SQL Server 2012 Client Tools on my TFS 2013 Application Tier as well in order to allow TFS to connect to my SQL Server instances for Reporting Services and Analysis Services.
4. Even though the documentation does not seem to be updated, this compatibility update for Visual Studio 2010 that allows connectivity to Team Foundation Server 2012 also seems to work for Team Foundation Server 2013: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=29082.  Here are the details regarding this particular update:  http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2662296

These are the steps that I followed to complete my upgrade from TFS 2010 to TFS 2013:

1. Un-installed TFS 2010 from my Application Tier and my Build Service Tier
2. I upgraded my installation of SQL Server 2008 R2 SP2 to SQL Server 2012 SP1.  While upgrading my installation of SQL Server 2012 SP1, I allowed it to simply include the GDR update as part of the installation so that I was sure that my SQL Server 2012 installation was fully up-to-date and would therefore be compliant with my installation of TFS 2013.
3. Installed SQL Server 2012 SP1 Client Tools on my TFS Application Tier.
4. Installed TFS 2013 on my TFS Application Tier and Build Service Tier.
5. Performed the TFS 2013 Upgrade on my TFS Application Tier and Build Service Tier.
6. Installed the Visual Studio 2010 SP1 Compatibility Update for TFS 2012 on my client workstations.
7. Verified that I could connect to my newly upgraded TFS 2013 instance using Visual Studio 2010 SP1!

Below are the screenshots from running the Upgrade Wizard for the TFS Application Tier:

After upgrading the TFS Application Tier, I proceeded to upgrade my Build Service Tier:

Problem with SSRS in SharePoint Foundation 2010 with Team Foundation Server 2010/2013

I just ended up installing a fresh installation of Team Foundation Server 2010 with SP1 on one of my servers and everything in the TFS Configuration Wizard seemed to run rather smoothly, so I thought I would try my luck and create my very first Team Project Collection along with its very own Team Project Portal (running SharePoint Foundation 2010 SP2).

Of course, I created a blank Team Project (it was a fresh installation, of course), but when I went to open up the Team Project Portal, I saw the following SQL Server Reporting Services error message:

After changing the Report Execution Account from Network Service to a Windows Domain account and upgrading to Team Foundation Server 2013, I saw the following screen in SharePoint:

So while the upgrade to TFS 2013 brought about an improvement in that it now displays the Burn Rate chart, the other SSRS chart/graph still does not display.

So after reading a few articles on the Internet, I saw that one of the recommendations was to perform a Rebuild in the Reporting section of the TFS Administration Console. 

After doing this and waiting a few hours, I returned to the Portal Dashboard and lo and behold, I was able to see this!

 

Upgrading a standalone installaton of TFS 2010 to SharePoint 2010

As many people already know, the default Single Server installation of Team Foundation Server only installs Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 (the free equivalent of SharePoint 2007).

Of course, this does not allow users to leverage the various new capabilities offered in SharePoint Foundation 2010.

Fortunately, though, it is easy enough to upgrade a WSS 3.0 installation to SharePoint 2010 using the Visual Upgrade process.

1. Install the Software Prerequisites for SharePoint Foundation 2010
2. Install SharePoint Foundation 2010
3. When you begin installing SharePoint Foundation 2010, you will see a dialog indicating that the installation will upgrade earlier versions.
4. After the installation completes, you will have to launch the SharePoint 2010 Products Configuration Wizard
5. Once it launches, you will have to decide how to perform the Visual Upgrade.  To play it safe, I selected the option to "Preserve look and feel of existing SharePoint sites, and allow end users to update their sites' user experience."
6. After that screen, you will have to enter a SharePoint Farm passphrase.  It is VERY IMPORTANT that you remember the passphrase or note it down somewhere (preferably in a Password Keeper tool such as KeePass).
7.   Once the configuration begins, you will be prompted with a dialog prompt stating that you must install the upgrade on all SharePoint servers in the Farm.  Since we are dealing with a single server installation, we can ignore this dialog message.
8. Since the Upgrade process runs through a SharePoint Timer Job, you will have to continue monitoring the Upgrade Progress in Central Administration through the "Upgrade status" menu item.
9. Once the Upgrade Status has Succeeded in Central Administration, you may have to add one or more   users to the Web Application User Policy to ensure that you have a valid Site Collection Administrator that can log into the site successfully.
10. Now log into the Team Project Portal Site Collection.
11. To upgrade the User Interface of the Team Project Portal to match the look and feel of SharePoint 2010, from the Site Actions menu, select Visual Upgrade
12. Select the option to Upgrade the User Interface
13. If the upgrade is successful, you should now see the new SharePoint 2010 look and feel for your Team Project Portal.

Unable to view TFS Reports in SharePoint Project Portal

After a fresh single server installation of Team Foundation Server 2010, I launched my Team Project Portal and was greeted with this message:

"Cannot create a connection to data source TfsOlapReportDS (rsErrorOpeningConnection)"

Well, I re-started my server and tried accessing it once more--still no luck!

So after doing some research on Google, I discovered that the SQL Server Analysis Services may not be running.

So, I went into the SQL Server Configuration Manager and sure enough, even though the service was set to Automatic, the service was NOT ACTUALLY RUNNING!

So, in any case, I started the service and lo and behold my reports began displaying once more in my Team Project Portal dashboard!  Yeah!!

Working with Telerik TeamPulse

If you are currently using Team Foundation Server 2010 and are a software development company, you probably already know that there is no easy way to collect feedback from your customers and incorporate or integrate that content into TFS Work Items.

Fortunately, the Telerik team has recently released software as an add-on to their TeamPulse to allow you to do just that!  It is called the Ideas & Feedback portal and is meant to allow customers to provide feedback regarding your product which can then be synchronized with your TFS Work Items.

If you are unfamiliar with setting this up in TeamPulse, below is the set of steps required to properly configure Team Foundation Server 2010 with your TeamPulse installation:

1. If you do not already have a Team Foundation Server 2010 Team Project created, you will have to create one.  When you create the Team Project make note of the Team Project Template that you are using since this will relevant when you configure TeamPulse for TFS Synchronization.  If you have previously created a Team Project, hopefully you know which Project Template was used to create the Team Project.  Generally, most organizations use the MSF for Agile Project Team Template. 
2. If you have not already done so, make sure that you have a user account which is configured as a Project Collection Administrator and a Project Administrator for the Team Project.  This information will be needed later when you configure TeamPulse for TFS Synchronization.  
1. For the Team Project Collection, you can go into Team Project Collection Settings-->Group Membership
2. For the Team Project Settings, you can go into Team Project Settings-->Group Membership
3. Now, you can install and begin configuring TeamPulse.
4. After installing TeamPulse, the first time you launch TeamPulse, you will be required to create a new TeamPulse project.
5. While creating the new TeamPulse project, make sure you choose the EXACT SAME project template as was used for your TFS Team Project.
6. After the TeamPulse project has been created, go into Settings-->TeamPulse Settings
7. Enter the TeamPulse Host Url for your TeamPulse installation.  NOTE: If you do not do this, the TFS Synchronization WILL NOT WORK!
8. Now, you will need to ensure that the Ideas & Feedback Portal will be available.  You can do this by going into Settings-->Portal Settings.
9. Make sure that the Portal Visibility is changed to "Portal is Public"
10. Now, to set up the TFS Sync Information, you can click on the Manage Sync Servers button also available from the Settings tab.
11. Enter the Server Details for the TFS Server.  In addition, make sure that the user account that you configure for the Sync Server is a Project Collection Administrator for the specified Team Project Collection.
12. After you have successfully added and saved the Sync Server information, you can click on the TFS Sync Information available from the Settings menu
13. From the list of available Server/Collection, select and highlight the Server/Collection.  This will then display the corresponding available Team Projects within the Team Project Collection.  Also, select the corresponding Team Project you wish to use for synchronization.
14. For the TFS Process Template, make sure that the selection in the dropdown list matches the Team Project Template that was used in TFS.  
15. Once that information has been verified, you can click on the "Connect to Server" button below the TFS Sync Status label.
16. If everything has been configured correctly, you should now be presented with a button displaying "Synchronize Now"
17. Well, now it is time to actually create content from the Ideas and Feedback Portal and synchronize that content with TFS!
18. From the Ideas & Feedback menu, click on the button for "Open Ideas & Feedback Portal"
19. Once the Ideas & Feedback portal opens, you should be able to create new Feedback.
20. You can search for existing items by typing some text in the search field, and if matching items are not found, you will be presented with a button to "Submit a New One".  Since this is a fresh installation of TeamPulse, go ahead and click on the "Submit a New One" button
21. When creating a new item, you will be provided with the ability to categorize your suggestion as an Idea, Feedback, Feature Request or Problem.
22. After you have entered some details for the Feedback item, go ahead and click the Submit button.
23. Now that you have entered a Feedback item, you need to map the Feedback item to a TFS Bug or User Story.  You can do this via Ideas & Feedback-->View Ideas & Feedback.
24. You can then click on the Edit icon next to each of the Feedback items (looks like conversational bubbles) and then either create a New User Story/Bug or Link to an existing User Story/Bug
25. Once that is done, you can return to the TFS Sync Information screen (under Settings-->TFS Sync Information)
26. Below the section for "What Am I Syncing", you should see the newly added Feedback item you just created through the Ideas & Feedback Portal.
27. Check the Sync checkbox next to the Feedback Item.
28. Now click on the Synchronize Now button to synchronize the items with TFS.
29. If the items were able to successfully synchronize, you should now be able to see the items in TFS.  If you are using the MSF for Agile Team Project Template, you can view the newly synchronized items by clicking on Product Backlog, below the Team Queries item in Team Explorer.
30. If you are now able to view the Work Items in TFS, you have successfully integrated Telerik TeamPulse with TFS!

Useful Team Foundation Server Tools

Now that Team Foundation Server 2010 has increased in popularity, there have been a number of newly released tools to support common tasks within Team Foundation Server.  Some of the free tools available from Microsoft are the following:

1. Team Foundation Server Power Tools: http://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com/c255a1e4-04ba-4f68-8f4e-cd473d6b971f
2. Team Foundation Server MSSCCI Provider 2010: http://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com/bce06506-be38-47a1-9f29-d3937d3d88d6
3. Team Foundation Server Build Extensions Power Tool: http://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com/2d7c8577-54b8-47ce-82a5-8649f579dcb6
4. Microsoft Team Foundation Server 2010 MOSS Configuration Tool: http://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com/db469790-5e3e-42f3-906e-411a73795a1b?SRC=Featured
5. Versioned TFS 2010 Build: http://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com/282ce3b4-93da-47ef-aca9-4aee41172e7a
6. TFS Auto Shelve: http://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com/080540cb-e35f-4651-b71c-86c73e4a633d
7. TFS Rollback User Interface: http://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com/2f3bb953-69d2-4419-8203-12868bea49a9
8. Team Foundation Server Integration Tools: http://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com/f854dd59-8eeb-4673-8d9a-ae012989bfa2

Using the TFPT Scorch command

For those of you who are not familiar with TFPT, TFPT stands for Team Foundation Power Tools.  For functionality that is not available directly through Team Foundation Server, one can install the Team Foundation Power Tools (which are available for download from the Visual Studio Gallery).

Two of the especially useful options in TFPT are the treeclean and the scorch commands.

The other day, I wanted to use the scorch command so that I could ensure that the source code that I had on disk was identical to the code stored in TFS Source Control.  However, one of the problems that I encountered was that I needed to pass login credential information in order to execute the command and wonder of wonders, there was no documentation on how to do it!

So, after doing some searching on the Internet, I finally came up with a viable solution:
Use the /login switch in the format /login: <domain>\username,password

Therefore, in order to use the command so that I could get it to work properly, I used the following format:
tfpt scorch <local workspace path> /recursive /login:<domain>\username,password /noprompt

It is worthwhile to note that the tfpt command is not registered in Path Variables, therefore, you will not be able to execute this at any old command prompt.  Instead, you must open a Visual Studio Command Prompt to execute this command.

Hope that helps!

Upgrading Team Foundation Server 2010 RTM Virtual Machine to Full Version

If you are like me, you probably wish to save yourself the time of installing and configuring a full virtual machine set up with Team Foundation Server 2010. 

Considering that a fully working and integrated VM for Team Foundation Server 2010 consists of installing Windows Server 2008, IIS, SQL Server 2008, Microsoft Office 2007 or above, Visual Studio 2010 Premium or Ultimate Edition and finally Team Foundation Server 2010, you can save yourself a lot of time and a lot of unnecessary hassle by simply downloading and utilizing the VMs that are pre-configured for you by Microsoft and available as a free download in VHD format.  The download formats are available for virtual platforms ranging from Virtual PC 2007 SP1 to Windows 7 Virtual PC to Hyper-V.

If you have not already downloaded the Team Foundation Server 2010 RTM Virtual Machine, you can download them from here:

For Windows 7 Virtual PC:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=509c3ba1-4efc-42b5-b6d8-0232b2cbb26e
For Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=e0198b64-4acb-4709-b07f-359fb4d523bc&displaylang=en
For Virtual PC 2007 SP1:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=5e13b15a-fd74-4cd7-b53e-bdf9456855bd&displaylang=en

Once you have done that and launched the virtual machine, now you can begin the process of converting the virtual machine to full versions/full editions so that the virtual machine does not expie (by default the entire virtual machine is installed with evaluation editions which are set to expire after a certain period of time).

So, if you have an MSDN subscription (which most developers do), you should be able to enter new product keys for all of the various products and activate them respectively.

The product keys you will need to have available are the following:

1. Windows Server 2008 Standard Edition
2. Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate Edition
3. SQL Server 2008 Enterprise Edition
4. Microsoft Office 2007 Enterprise Edition
5. Team Foundation Server 2010

The easiest piece to activate will be Microsoft Office 2007, so I will start with that first:

1. Launch Microsoft Office Word 2007 (or another respective Office application)
2. You will immediately be prompted for a product key
3. Enter your Office 2007 Product Key
4. After the product key has been successfully validated, click on the Install Now button
5. Once the installation has completed, click on the Close button

Next, you can activate your copy of Windows Server 2008:

1. Open the Control Panel
2. Go to the System icon
3. Click on the link for "Change product key"
4. Enter your Windows Server 2008 product key
5. Click Next to begin the process of activating your copy of Windows Server 2008

Now, upgrade your edition of SQL Server 2008:

1. Insert the media (or mount the ISO image) for the SQL Server 2008 Enterprise installation
2. Once the SQL Server Installation Center dialog pops up, click on the navigation link for Maintenance
3. Click on the link for Edition Upgrade
4. Click through the wizard dialogs until you reach the screen for "Select Instance"
5. Select the MSSQLSERVER instance
6. Click Next until you reach the "Ready to upgrade edition" dialog
7. Click on Upgrade to proceed with the SQL Server edition upgrade
8. Click Close once the upgrade has completed.

Now, upgrade Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate Edition:

1. Mount the ISO image for Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate Edition from your MSDN subscription
2. Browse to the Setup directory
3. Open the file setup.sdb file in the text editor of your choice
4. Look for an element named [Product Key]
5. Beneath this element you will find the Product Key for your copy of Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate Edition
6. Now open the copy of Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate Edition on your virtual machine
7. From the Help menu, select Register Product
8. Enter the Product Key that you copied from your setup.sdb file

Finally, upgrade your copy of Team Foundation Sever 2010:

1. Mount the ISO image for Team Foundation Server from your MSDN subscription
2. Browse to either the TFS-x64 or TFS-x86 directories
3. Open the file setup.sdb file in the text editor of your choice
4. Look for an element named [Product Key]
5. Beneath this element you will find the Product Key for your copy of Team Foundation Server 2010
6. Now open the Team Foundation Administration Console
7. Look on the main Team Foundation Server Administration Screen
8. Click on the link for Update License
9. Enter the Product Key that you copied from your setup.sdb file

That should be it!  

You have now fully converted your evaluation version Team Foundation Server 2010 Virtual Machine to a fully functional virtual machine with no time limits or restrictions!