GKhanna_MS (Moderator):
Good afternoon everyone!
GKhanna_MS (Moderator):
Welcome to Today's MSDN Expert Chat
GKhanna_MS (Moderator):
Today we have the VSTS product team who will be discussing with us - the Visual Studio Team System's Team Foundation Server
GKhanna_MS (Moderator):
Team - please introduce yourself..
GKhanna_MS (Moderator):
:)
Akashm_MS (Expert):
Hello my name is Akash Maheshwari, I am program manager in Visual Studio Team System. Our team is developing converter tools for Team Foundation Source Control;;
Dinesh (Expert):
Hello! I am Dinesh. I am Test Manager for the Visual Studio Team System Hyderbad.
Khushboo_MS (Expert):
Hi I am Khushboo Program Manager in Visual Studio Team System group.
GKhanna_MS (Moderator):
Attendees - do post your questions to the team by selecting the "Submit a question" button followed by your question.
GKhanna_MS (Moderator):
Lets start off our chat - Team, why dont you introduce us all to what Team Foundation Server is all about?
Amit_MS (Expert):
Hi, I am Amit Agrawal, Program Manager working on Team Build, work item converters and source control converters.
Khushboo_MS (Expert):
Team Foundation server is the server component of VSTS. It consists of the following - Source Control System, work item tracking tool, Reporting, Team Build, Project Management. These tools are well integrated with each other to provide users with seamless software development life cycle experience
GKhanna_MS (Moderator):
So is it required for testing and profiling the apps as well?
Amit_MS (Expert):
Q: I have some idea on VSTS foundation server. That it caters the needs of a Project Manager. Is my understanding correct ?
A: VSTS foundation server ships with work item tracking that can be used to track things such as tasks, scenarios, work items etc. You can then export these to excel or project and track the project progress from those tools. You can make changes in excel/project and sync back to Team Foundation server. The process guidance is also part of team foundation. Does that answer your question?
Dinesh (Expert):
Q: Current CTP does not come with the source control tool. When can we expect Source Depot to be part of VSTS release.
A: Source Depot is not part of VSTS. The Dec CTP does have a source control system.
Khushboo_MS (Expert):
Not necessarily. If you want to just use testing tools for say unit testing, profiling etc - you need not have TFS but yes in case you want to integrate testing with your build process, work item tracking tool etc to do some cool stuff :) then sure you should have TFS
Amit_MS (Expert):
Sudhakar, please ask questions through question manager
GKhanna_MS (Moderator):
Attendees - submit the questions after selecting the "Submit Question" radio button
Amit_MS (Expert):
ms project and excel integration is not conversion per se. You can track your work items in VSTS and keep them synced to excel/project. We have a converter from ClearQuest to VSTS.
Amit_MS (Expert):
Q: Hi amit, what are the work item converters avaiable with current release of TFS/VSTS ? Pramod V: Is there away to synchronize Microsoft VSS and Source Safe of VSTS
A: ClearQuest to VSTS converter is available. There is no two way sync between ClearQuest and VSTS.
Akashm_MS (Expert):
Pramod we have migration tool from VSS to Team System;; Using this migration tool you can migrate over data from VSS to Team System;; However, it is one way migration;;
Akashm_MS (Expert):
Q: Is the Tool available with VS2005 Beta2
A: Yes VSS converter is part of Beta2;;
Akashm_MS (Expert):
Q: Is there a way to synchronize Microsoft VSS and Source Safe of VSTS
A: Pramod we have migration tool from VSS to Team System;; Using this migration tool you can migrate over data from VSS to Team System;; However, it is one way migration;;
Amit_MS (Expert):
Q: Is there any tool to capture the requirements of a project? Can I integrate Requisite Pro with VSTS ?
A: You can capture the requirements in VSTS work item tracking. Requirement comes as a work item type with e.g. MSF-Agile. You can then track these requirements in ms project as well. You can integrate VSTS with other tools, however MS is not shipping that integration in the box.
Dinesh (Expert):
Q: What are the hardware requirements for running TFS?
A: That depends on number of users connecting to the server. Team foundation server can be installed on single box or on dual boxes. For VSTS Beta2 hardware requirements, see http://lab.msdn.microsoft.com/teamsystem/tfsreadme.aspx
Amit_MS (Expert):
Q: How many users can the TFS can scale to?
A: We are designing VSTS to scale to 500 users team.
Akashm_MS (Expert):
Q: I heard TFS has got an improved SCC. How efficient is the SCC engine with in TFS compared to the VSS?
A: Team System Source control is designed for enterprose customers and it uses SQL Server for storing data; Where VSS is sutable for smaller teams; The real value lies in integration of source control with other components like Work item tracking, build, reporting etc;;
Dinesh (Expert):
Q: Would the Project Server capabilities be included within TFS?
A: Project server support is not in V1
Khushboo_MS (Expert):
Hi Banta - TFS consists a number of tools like work item tracking tool, SCC, build automation, project management, reporting. That said - I guess your question is how is it diff from SD. SD is an internal tool only used by us at MS. A couple of more differences - unlike SD the backend of the team system SCC is sql server which makes it more scalable, and of course the biggest advantage of team SCC is the integration with other TFS components like for egs the build automation server.
Khushboo_MS (Expert):
Q: So when I buy TFS, do I have to pay for a SQL Server license as well ?
A: No banta - if you are buying TFS you need not buy sql server separately
Dinesh (Expert):
Q: Then what kind of project management capabilities are there in TFS?
A: Two way sync between VSTS Workitem tracking system and Excel and MS Project
Akashm_MS (Expert):
Q: I heard TFS has got an improved SCC. How efficient is the SCC engine with in TFS compared to the VSS?
A: In addition, Team System Source control uses web services(http/https) this makes faster/secure to use over internet;;
Amit_MS (Expert):
Q: TFS comes with Project Site. Is it made up of SharePoint ? if so can I migrate my existing site, which I created for my Project to the VSTS?
A: The project site is made up of SharePoint. There is no migration of your own site to VSTS. But you can link the site to sharepoint site.
Akashm_MS (Expert):
Q: you referred to workitem converters apart from source control converters, what are different workitem converters VSTS would be shipping
A: We are shipping ClearQuest converter;;
Amit_MS (Expert):
Q: Can I extract the site out of VSTS?
A: Can you elaborate? What do you want to extract?
Akashm_MS (Expert):
Q: Akash - will the Team System Webservices be publicly documented for us to build client applications around them?
A: We will publish an Object Model around Source Control;; This object model internally use web services;;
Khushboo_MS (Expert):
Q: Thanks Khushboo - but whats the build automation server?
A: Build automation server is a tool in TFS which helps you create a 'build lab out of the box' scenario. It has a simple UI to configure your build settings - and then integrates with the SCC to automatically sync your sources on your build machine, builds the sources, runs tests automatically, reports a bunch of metrices, opens bugs automatically for build breaks and then finally creates a cool report which talks about the general health of the build and project. It uses MSBuild as its internal build engine
Dinesh (Expert):
Q: And what are the licensing issues involved?
A: Probably I didnt understand you question. Are you looking for anything specific? To know about general VSTS licensing, see http://blogs.msdn.com/rickla/archive/2005/03/22/400684.aspx
Akashm_MS (Expert):
Q: what would be the percentage of integration for TFS access from non-MS products like linux and solaris?
A: In V1, we have no plans of integrating solaris/linux with TFS;;
Akashm_MS (Expert):
Q: Akash - the object model you talked about, how will it be exposed for consumption? Managed API? WebServices ? how?
A: The object model are Managed APIs;;
Amit_MS (Expert):
Q: Given a custom methodology, are there any guidelines for adapting with VSTS? Can you please point me to a good resource for this?
A: You can write your own methodology and import it in VSTS. You can define your work item types, work flow, checkin policies etc. Follow the link http://www.vsipdev.com/downloads/ to get the extensibility kit which contains details on extensibility.
GKhanna_MS (Moderator):
Sanjay - post your question after selecting the "Submit your Question" radio button.
Amit_MS (Expert):
Q: Amit, Sorry. Say my project has a project site in VSTS and want to extract the site out of VSTS and host it separate for the users other than my team members. Is it possible
A: Sharepoint site should be available to all people. You just need to give read access to all the users in your company.
GKhanna_MS (Moderator):
Yes Sanjay - repost your question.
Akashm_MS (Expert):
Q: When can I expect documentation on VSTS API?
A: http://www.vsipdev.com/downloads/
Akashm_MS (Expert):
Q: When can I expect documentation on VSTS API?
A: http://www.vsipdev.com/downloads/
Amit_MS (Expert):
Q: update that task, other person shouldn’t be allowed to update that task. Is this kind of authorization available in VSTS? If yes, how to implement that? If no, what other way it can be implemented? - question complete
A: This type of authentication is not supported out of the box. I am not sure if you can implement it at all.
Khushboo_MS (Expert):
Q: Is this API is managed?
A: Yes all APIs are managed
Dinesh (Expert):
Q: sorry again missed question radio button - Do you see any issues - if we access OM from a web application in stead of windows application
A: No. there shouldnt be any problem
Amit_MS (Expert):
Q: Reporting done by TFS; is it based upon SQL Server Reporting Services?
A: Yes it is.
Akashm_MS (Expert):
Q: When can I expect documentation on VSTS API?
A: As I answered before you can check the API for VSTS under following location http://www.vsipdev.com/downloads/
Amit_MS (Expert):
Q: If yes, then can we pull the project reports using the Reporting Services OM?
A: Yes, you can. But do you really want to access db directly? You will have to figure out the schema and those kind of details. Instead you can open VSTS and define your reports using VSTS reporting.
Akashm_MS (Expert):
Q: I heard there is a notion of policies in VSTS - managers can dictate the preconditions for source check-in, for example. Can you elaborate on this?
A: Yes managers can dictate preconditions like specify code reviewer, run static analysis etc;;
Khushboo_MS (Expert):
hey Diwakar check out http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnvsent/html/vsts-msf.asp
Khushboo_MS (Expert):
Q: Amit, where can I find details of MSF 4.0 ?
A: Hey Diwakar - check out http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnvsent/html/vsts-msf.asp
Akashm_MS (Expert):
Q: I heard there is a notion of policies in VSTS - managers can dictate the preconditions for source check-in, for example. Can you elaborate on this?
A: Source check in policies are dependent on the methodologies of project that you have selected; However you can customize the checkin policies;;
Khushboo_MS (Expert):
Q: Amit - however the Reporting OM allows me to get the report as it is shown by the reporting server, along with its properties. Can it be done with TFS as well - or do ppl in specific roles (TFS security) can do that only?
A: anybody with appropriate permissions can generate reports from TFS. SOme reports are shipped out of the box but you can also customise it.
Amit_MS (Expert):
Q: Amit, i don't think VSTS gives any report builder to generated rdl files? Are you talking about query builder for work items?
A: Can you explain the scenario? I was talking about reports such as build trends, # of bugs etc. TFS data goes into a warehouse and TFS reporting picks data from this warehouse. You can design your own reports from this warehouse. What kind of reports would you want to generate?
GKhanna_MS (Moderator):
5 mins to go - time for one more question :)
Amit_MS (Expert):
Q: yes what you are explaining is actually work item queries
A: no, I am not explaining work item queries. I am talking about reports that have trends, charts etc. Reports such as historical build trend. Reports like code churn.
Khushboo_MS (Expert):
Q: Is there any built in tool to generate the Code Metrics in VSTS ?
A: Yes Diwakar there are some in built tools to generate some code metrics like code churn, code coverage(test metrics) etc. Is that what you are looking for ? However we do not in built tools for things like calculating number of code lines, commented lines etc.
GKhanna_MS (Moderator):
Guys - we are almost out of time.
Amit_MS (Expert):
Q: but if we really want to build reports like the default reports (rdl files which can also show graphical info) given in MSF Agile project, I think, we'd need to use Yukon Reporting services. ,,contd
A: Yes, if you need all the power then you will need to get down to Yukon level.
GKhanna_MS (Moderator):
Team - do share your contact email addresses so that for any queries pending from today's chat can be emailed to you.
Amit_MS (Expert):
Q: I was asking is there any capability in Visual Studio to generate rdl files OR we need to generate those separtely in Yukon and add to team project
A: I will have to find that out.
GKhanna_MS (Moderator):
Times up :)
GKhanna_MS (Moderator):
Akash/Dinesh/Khushboo/Amit - thanks for coming in.
Khushboo_MS (Expert):
Thanks folks for all the interest ! As usual feel free to send your feedback/questions. my contact address khushbos@microsoft.com
GKhanna_MS (Moderator):
And thank you all for attending today's chat - hopefully, it gives you all a better perspective of what Team Foundation Server is all about.
Amit_MS (Expert):
Thank you.
GKhanna_MS (Moderator):
Do join us next week
GKhanna_MS (Moderator):
for a chat on SQL Mobile
GKhanna_MS (Moderator):
Until then, have a pleasant evening
GKhanna_MS (Moderator):
:)
GKhanna_MS (Moderator):
Good bye