VSS 2005 without Team System

VSS 2005 without Team System

• Israel Alpert

  > Will VSS 6 work with Visual Studio 2005
  
  Yes. Besides the differences noted by Pgloor, you'll miss the Renames&Deletes syncrhonization for web projects (files deleted on server will appear as local adds for all vss6 clients), asyncrhonous open from source control.
  
  > Is the server based version of VSS 2005 avaialable without purchasing the entire Team System
  
  VSS2005 has 2 components that can be run on the machine hosting the VSS database (Internet access and Lan booster service, both usable only from VisualStudio). However, the rest of VSS is not client-server (there aren't 2 separate products). You can get VSS2005 Standalone without MSDN subscription (see http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/howtobuy/default.aspx for the msrp and list of resellers).
  
  >  Does VSS 2005 have any recovery enhancements
  
  The Analyze utility from VSS2005 has an a couple of improvements, and it should detect and fix more database problems than VSS6 did.
  However, that doesn't mean you shouldn't backup regularly your database (if physical files are deleted from database, there is no tool in the world that can "recover" them - only a good backup can save you there)
  
  Alin
  

• Envitro

  Mark Stutzbach wrote:

  Will VSS 6 work with Visual Studio 2005

  
  I'm not sure about this. Since the plugin-in implementation changed in Visual Studio 2005, I guess integrating VSS 6 will not be possible (or will not be supported, at least). 
  
  However, VSS 2005 is compatible and interoperable with version 4.0, 5.0, and 6.0 databases.
  
  

  Mark Stutzbach wrote:

  Is the server based version of VSS 2005 avaialable without purchasing the entire Team System

  
  I don't know whether there is a special version of VSS 2005 in Team System or not. VSS 2005 comes with a Web service and two plug-in's for Visual Studio 2005. One plug-in for "traditional" shared file access and the other plug-in for web based access.
  
  

  Mark Stutzbach wrote:

  If VSS 2005 is not server based, what advantages does VS 2005 have over VSS 6

  
  I don't know much about VSS 6 because we didn't use it due to the many problems and limitations we experienced with earlier versions. Now, VSS 2005 seems to be much better. The following summarizes some of the changes in VSS 2005:
  
  Data storage now up to 4 GB.
  
  Support for Larger Projects and Distributed Teams
  - Regional Time Zones.
  - Multiple Languages.
  - Unicode.
  
  Programming and Customization Support
  - Events (OnBeforeCheckout, OnAfterCheckIn, etc. to automate processes
  - Custom tasks (e.g. retrieve files before building with an automated build)
  - Add new functionality using the IVSS automation model and the .NET Programmable Interop Assemblies (PIA). [great, but not easy to do]
  
  Reduced limitations when working in parallel with XML-based config files.
  
  File Merge Improvements. [Can't say much because we don't use "Merge"].
  
  Revised Client with wizards for some tasks. [Teaching the team how-to do is still better].
  
  Remote Internet Access. [We currently don't use this] 
  
  Improved LAN Access.
  
  

  Mark Stutzbach wrote:

  VSS 6 was very slow over the network and unusable over VPN without SourceOffSite.  Does VSS 2005 resolve this

  
  So far I never used it over VPN or the Internet. For the smaller projects we currently have on the LAN, speed is not an issue. The help states that the file retrieval operation is two times faster than in older versions
  
  

  Mark Stutzbach wrote:

  The VSS 6 shared file based architecture can lead to lost source code.  I have expereinced this a number of times.  Does VSS 2005 have any recovery enhancements

  
  Unfortunately I can't see any. We regularerely copy the whole database tree to another server and back-it up to tape from there. To reduce problems I created databases for each project (I mean each group of solutions forming an application).
  
  In addition I made a test, where I corrupted a database by will. It was relatively easy to reconstruct the project from the backup and the local file copies we had.
  
  

  Mark Stutzbach wrote:

  We are at a turning point of deciding on a replacement for VSS 6.  Team System has a very uncertain ROI.  Given that we will have to purchase VSS 2005 for each developers seat, should we be considering a non-Microsoft option

  
  We did it the other way round. After some negative experiences with Open Source software or the higher costs of other third party solutions we have taken into consideration, we decided to give VSS 2005 a try.
  

  
  

• Katherine

  Hi Mark,
  
  LAN booster speeds up certain source control operations in VisualStudio, when the database is accessed as a file share (LAN, or remote when you VPN)
  If you really are remote over slow lines, VSS Internet plugin will give you better 
  
  Yes, VSS db is the old file-based format (it hasn't changed since VSS6)
  TeamServer DB is SQL -Server based.
  
  There is no good document comparing VSS6 and VSS2005.
  As for TeamFoundationServer, the MSDN site might offer some details http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms181232(en-US,VS.80).aspx
  Otherwise, perhaps someone in TFS forum(http://forums.microsoft.com/MSDN/ShowForum.aspx ForumID=22&SiteID=1) may know more...
  
  Alin
   

  
  

• mohaccc

  Thanks Alin,
  
  So this Lan Booster component is intended to speed up remote VSS Access
  
  And the source DB here is the old VSS file-based DB
  
  But the Team Server VSS is a SQL Server based source DB
  
  There is a great deal of confusion, perhaps I am late to this party.  Is there a good document somewhere that explains the differences between the three VSS Versions   That is VSS 6, non-TS VSS2005, and TS VSS2005.
  
  
• VSS 2005 without Team System