Hakan Eskici

Sample Script to Enable New Features in Upgraded Team Projects (TFS 2010 RTM)

Hakan Eskici — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 17:40:00 GMT

Important: The instructions in this post only apply to the RTM version of Team Foundation Server 2010. For older versions, see RC, Beta2, or Beta1.

Introduction

When you upgrade your existing Team Foundation Server to version 2010, upgraded team projects will work as before. However, you need to make some manual changes to these team projects if you want to enable the following features:

Test Case Management
Agile Planning Workbooks
Lab Management
Dashboards

The guidance documents that explain how to update your upgraded Team Projects is now available at MSDN:

Updating an Upgraded Team Project to Access New Features

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff432837(v=VS.100).aspx

In addition to the official guidance documents, a sample script is also available to help you automate some of these steps if you were using a non-modified Agile 4.2 process template before the server upgrade.

Summary of Required Changes

Refer to the table below for a summary of the required changes to enable the new features for upgraded team projects. Note that these changes are only necessary for the team projects that existed before the upgrade. If you are creating new team projects, all of these features are enabled by default.

Feature	Requirements
Test Case Management	Add Test Case and Shared Step work item types () Update existing Bug and Scenario work item types () Add new link types () Add work item categories ()
Agile Planning Workbooks	Update existing Task and Scenario work item types (*) Create iteration and product backlog queries Bind workbooks against the queries Modify workbook document properties
Lab Management	Grant lab management permissions to user groups Provision lab resources
Reports	Update your existing reports to work against the new warehouse
Dashboards	Run the Team Project Batch File command

(*): You can use the sample script attached to this article to make these changes marked with (*) in the table above.

You can use the sample script as is, if:

You are using the RTM (English) version of Team Foundation Server 2010
Your team project was created with the English language version of “MSF for Agile Software Development - v4.2” process template before you upgraded your Team Foundation Server
No modifications have been made to the work item type definitions on your team project before or after the upgrade
You are running the script on an English operating system that has Visual Studio Team Explorer 2010 RTM

You need to either modify the sample script, or create your own if:

Your team project was created with a process template other than “MSF for Agile Software Development v4.2” (English)
You have made modifications to the out of box work item type definitions on your team project
Your team project already has an existing Test Case work item type
You want to use the existing “Repro Steps” field on your Bug work item type
You are using a non-English language version of Team Foundation Server

Sample Script

The attached ZIP file contains the script and updated MSF for Agile 4.2 work item type definitions. You must be a project collection administrator to run this script. The script requires the witadmin.exe utility which is installed by Team Explorer and Team Foundation Server.

To use the script, download and extract it to a local directory such as C:\Upgrade. Before you run the script, open “EnableFeatures.bat” in a text editor and complete the configuration by specifying values for the following:

Team Foundation Server URL
Name of the team project collection
Name of the team project
Path to witadmin.exe utility
Set ConfigComplete = 1 to indicate that you’ve completed the configuration

Important: This script will only work against “unmodified” team projects created with “MSF for Agile Software Development – v4.2” process templates on the RTM version of Team Foundation Server 2010.

What does the script do?

The script is a simple batch file that uses the witadmin.exe utility to make the following changes:

Saves a backup of your existing Bug, Task and Scenario work item types
Adds new link types (Test Case / Shared Steps and Tests / Tested By)
Adds new work item types (Test Case and Shared Step)
Overwrites Bug, Task and Scenario work item types
Adds work item categories

Questions?

Take a look at the following blog post for frequently asked questions:

FAQ on the Sample Script to Enable New Features in Upgraded Team Projects

Download the Sample Script

For any other questions or comments, feel free to contact me.

Sample Script to Enable New Features in Upgraded Team Projects (TFS 2010 RC)

Hakan Eskici — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 18:05:00 GMT

Important: The instructions in this post only apply to the RC version of Team Foundation Server 2010. For TFS 2010 Beta2, see this post. For TFS 2010 Beta1, see this post.

Introduction

When you upgrade your existing Team Foundation Server to version 2010, upgraded team projects will work as before. However, you need to make some changes to these team projects if you want to enable the following features:

Test Case Management
Agile Planning Workbooks
Lab Management

In this post, I’m providing a sample script to help you with many of the steps. For complete information about enabling these features, see the following article. Although it’s for Beta2, it is still applicable for RC:

Enabling New Application Lifecycle Management Features for Visual Studio Team System 2010 Beta 2 in Upgraded Team Projects

Required Changes

Feature	Requirements
Test Case Management	Add Test Case and Shared Step work item types () Update existing Bug and Scenario work item types () Add new link types () Add work item categories ()
Agile Planning Workbooks	Update existing Task and Scenario work item types (*) Create iteration and product backlog queries Bind workbooks against the queries Modify workbook document properties
Lab Management	Grant lab management permissions to user groups Provision lab resources
Reports	Update your existing reports to work against the new warehouse

(*): You can use the sample script attached to this article to make these changes marked with (*) in the table above.

However, this sample script is designed to work if the following are true:

You are using the RC (English) version of Team Foundation Server 2010
Your team project was created with the English language version of “MSF for Agile Software Development - v4.2” process template before you upgraded your Team Foundation Server
No modifications have been made to the work item type definitions on your team project before or after the upgrade
You are running the script on an English operating system that has Visual Studio Team Explorer 2010 RC

You need to either modify the sample script, or create your own if:

Your team project was created with a process template other than “MSF for Agile Software Development v4.2” (English)
You have made modifications to the out of box work item type definitions on your team project
Your team project already has an existing Test Case work item type
You want to use the existing “Repro Steps” field on your Bug work item type
You are using a non-English Team Foundation Server

Sample Script

Team Foundation Server URL
Name of the team project collection
Name of the team project
Path to witadmin.exe utility
Set ConfigComplete = 1 to indicate that you’ve completed the configuration

Important: This script will only work against “unmodified” team projects created with “MSF for Agile Software Development – v4.2” process templates on RC version of Team Foundation Server 2010.

What does the script do?

The script is a simple batch file that uses the witadmin.exe utility to make the following changes:

Saves a backup of your existing Bug, Task and Scenario work item types
Adds new link types (Test Case / Shared Steps and Tests / Tested By)
Adds new work item types (Test Case and Shared Step)
Overwrites Bug, Task and Scenario work item types
Adds work item categories

Download the Sample Script

If you have any questions about the script, feel free to contact me.

Team System Web Access 2008 SP1 Scalability Update

Hakan Eskici — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 16:05:00 GMT

We have just published updates to address the scalability issues in Team System Web Access 2008 power tool.

The update consists of two parts that can be installed separately, but I strongly recommend installing both updates to get the most benefits for improved scalability:

1. Patch for referenced object model assemblies

This update contains fixes in various assemblies used by Web Access, Team Explorer and Team Foundation Server.

You can download it at:

KB974402

You need to install this patch to the server where Web Access 2008 power tool is running. Important: Make sure you run the patch using an account different than the service account that TFS runs as.

2. Web Access 2008 power tool:

This is a full release that contains the latest version of Web Access 2008 power tool with the scalability fixes.

You can download it at:

Team System Web Access 2008 SP1 Power Tool

You need to uninstall any existing installations of Web Access 2008 before installing this.

What was the problem?

Due to a couple of bugs in Web Access and TFS object model assemblies, certain objects in memory were not properly released when they are no longer used, which resulted in memory leaks.

When Web Access 2008 was accessed by multiple people over a certain period of time, the memory consumption increased linearly to a point where Web Access application became unstable due to the fact that there’s no sufficient memory to handle new requests. In some cases, IIS might automatically force a app pool recycle due to the memory pressure, causing all logged in users to be kicked out with error messages saying the sessions have timed out.

Along with that, you might have seen common error messages like “unable to create work item store” which are actually a manifestation of the underlying “out of memory” exceptions.

What is the fix?

This update fixes the known memory leaks in both Web Access and TFS object model assemblies so that the Web Access instance does not destabilize over time.

What can I expect from this fix?

The most important improvement is the stability of Web Access over time. Previously -in theory- even a single user could cause scalability issues over a long period of time due to the nature of the memory leaks, and this is no longer the case.

If you install both updates, you will see improvements with the stability of Web Access instance, especially if you have multiple people using it for long periods of time. In summary, the frequency of session timeout or “unable to create work item store” errors will decrease dramatically.

How does this fix change the scalability limits of Web Access 2008?

Although the number of concurrent users that Web Access can handle is somehow improved with this update, the biggest improvement is the stability over time as I explained in the previous section. That said, I’m planning to update the TSWA 2008 Scalability Limits Whitepaper soon so watch this blog for updates.

Web Access 2010 Beta 2 is broken on Windows 2008 R2

Hakan Eskici — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 13:25:21 GMT

Scenario

After installing Team Foundation Server 2010 Beta 2 on a Windows 2008 R2 server, when you navigate to Web Access site, you get the following error message:

Configuration Error

Parser Error Message: Could not load file or assembly 'System.Web.Extensions, Version=3.5.0.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=31bf3856ad364e35' or one of its dependencies. The system cannot find the file specified.

Problem

Windows 2008 R2 includes NET Framework 3.5 as a Windows feature, which means NET Framework cannot be installed on that system using the regular installer. It needs to be enabled as a feature instead. Since TFS setup tries to install NET Framework 3.5 using the installer, it fails for this reason.

Since NET 3.5 is not available after TFS installation, Web Access is broken.

Workaround

The workaround is to enable NET Framework 3.5 feature on Windows 2008 R2 using the Role Manager.

Open Server Manager
Click the Features node
Click Add Features
Check “.NET Framework 3.5.1 Features” (including all sub nodes)
Click Next, and click Install to finish the installation

Web Access will start to work when the NET Framework 3.5 is enabled.

Team Foundation Server 2010 Beta 2 Available

Hakan Eskici — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 13:16:14 GMT

We have just announced the availability of Team Foundation Server 2010 Beta 2 along with the Ultimate, Premium and Professional editions of Visual Studio 2010.

Download Links:

Related Resources

Where is Web Access?

Web Access is integrated into Team Foundation Server and gets installed by default when you install Team Foundation Server.

On a default configuration, Web Access is available at:

http://server:8080/tfs/web

Where is Work Item Only View (previously known as WIWA)?

WIOV now shares the same URL with full Web Access:

http://server:8080/tfs/web

There is a new permission to control access to full Web Access features. Anyone in the “Work Item Only View Users” group will have that permission denied, therefore they will see the Work Item Only View. Others will see full Web Access.

How can I install Web Access separately on its own server?

The recommended way is to install a “Application Tier Only” instance of TFS by pointing it to the same TFS database and using that instance just for Web Access. For example:

Server1: End users connect to this server from Team Explorer (Web Access is available but not used)
Server2: Web Access users connect to this server from a Web browser (TFS Application Tier is available but not used)

Sample Script to Enable New Features in Upgraded Team Projects (TFS 2010 Beta2)

Hakan Eskici — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 20:40:00 GMT

Important: The instructions in this post only apply to the Beta2 version of Team Foundation Server 2010. For Beta1, see this post.

Introduction

Test Case Management
Agile Planning Workbooks
Lab Management

In this post, I’m providing a sample script to help you with many of the steps. For complete information about enabling these features, see the following article:

Enabling New Application Lifecycle Management Features for Visual Studio Team System 2010 Beta 2 in Upgraded Team Projects

Required Changes

Feature	Requirements
Test Case Management	Add Test Case and Shared Step work item types () Update existing Bug and Scenario work item types () Add new link types () Add work item categories ()
Agile Planning Workbooks	Update existing Task and Scenario work item types (*) Create iteration and product backlog queries Bind workbooks against the queries Modify workbook document properties
Lab Management	Grant lab management permissions to user groups Provision lab resources
Reports	Update your existing reports to work against the new warehouse

(*): You can use the sample script attached to this article to make these changes marked with (*) in the table above.

However, this sample script is designed to work if the following are true:

You are using the Beta2 (English) version of Team Foundation Server 2010
Your team project was created with the English language version of “MSF for Agile Software Development - v4.2” process template before you upgraded your Team Foundation Server
No modifications have been made to the work item type definitions on your team project before or after the upgrade
You are running the script on an English operating system that has Visual Studio Team Explorer 2010 Beta2

You need to either modify the sample script, or create your own if:

Your team project was created with a process template other than “MSF for Agile Software Development v4.2” (English)
You have made modifications to the out of box work item type definitions on your team project
Your team project already has an existing Test Case work item type
You want to use the existing “Repro Steps” field on your Bug work item type
You are using a non-English Team Foundation Server

Sample Script

Team Foundation Server URL
Name of the team project collection
Name of the team project
Path to witadmin.exe utility
Set ConfigComplete = 1 to indicate that you’ve completed the configuration

Important: This script will only work against “unmodified” team projects created with “MSF for Agile Software Development – v4.2” process templates on Beta2 version of Team Foundation Server 2010.

What does the script do?

The script is a simple batch file that uses the witadmin.exe utility to make the following changes:

Saves a backup of your existing Bug, Task and Scenario work item types
Adds new link types (Test Case / Shared Steps and Tests / Tested By)
Adds new work item types (Test Case and Shared Step)
Overwrites Bug, Task and Scenario work item types
Adds work item categories

Download the Sample Script

If you have any questions about the script, feel free to contact me.

Investigating HTTP 400 Bad Request Errors in Web Access

Hakan Eskici — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 18:49:18 GMT

Recently, one of our customers reported an issue with Web Access causing some users to get HTTP 400 Bad Request errors.

HTTP 400 errors usually indicate that the request sent by the browser cannot be understood by the Web server. I’d recommend that you use a HTTP debugging proxy such as Fiddler to investigate such errors to see the underlying cause.

Header Too Long

If you see a Header Too Long error in Fiddler logs, one of the common causes for this is that you have users that belong to many Active Directory groups, which increases the size of the authentication headers the browser sends to the Web Server.

Workaround

The workaround is to increase the header size limit in IIS on the machine where you have Web Access installed:

Open Regedit
Go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\HTTP\Parameters
Add a new DWORD value named MaxFieldValue
Enter 32768 as a decimal value
Add a new DWORD value named MaxRequestBytes
Enter 500000 as a decimal value
Restart the computer

This will increase the maximum accepted request sizes and should fix the HTTP 400 Bad Request – Header Too Long error.

FAQ on the Sample Script to Enable New Features in Upgraded Team Projects

Hakan Eskici — Wed, 20 May 2009 18:12:52 GMT

As a follow up to my previous blog post that talks about the sample script to enable new features in upgraded team projects, I wanted to answer a couple of questions and go into a little bit more detail.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need to run this script on my Team Foundation Server machine?

No, the script can be run on any machine where you either have Team Explorer 2010 or Team Foundation Server 2010 installed. Make sure you edit EnableFeatures.bat file to specify the path to the witadmin.exe utility as it might be on different locations depending on whether you have TFS or Team Explorer installed.

Can I use this script against team projects created with “MSF for CMMI Process Improvement” process template?

No, the sample script is designed to work only for team projects created with “MSF for Agile Software Development – v4.2” process template and doesn’t have any modifications applied to its underlying work item type definitions.

How can I check if my team project is created with “MSF for Agile Software Development v4.2” process template?

See the section “How to Check If Your Team Project is “Unmodified” below.

How can I check if my team project is “unmodified”?

See the section “How to Check If Your Team Project is “Unmodified” below.

What if I realize that some modifications have been made to the underlying work item type definitions for my team project?

See the section “What If My Team Project is “Modified” below.

How can I undo the changes that this script makes?

1. Restore backups of your Bug, Task and Scenario work item types

You can find the backups of your Bug, Task and Scenario work item types in Backup\<ProjectName> directory. If there are multiple files, look for the ones that has the earliest date/time stamp. Import the backups back to your team project using witadmin importwitd command.

2. Delete the new work item types

The script adds the Test Case and Shared Step work item types to your team project. You can delete these work item types by running witadmin destroywitd command.

3. Delete link types

The script adds Test Case / Shared Steps and Tests / Tested By link types to your team project. You can delete these link types by running witadmin deletelinktype command.

What if my team project is “modified”?

See the next section to check if your project is “modified” or not. If you determine that your team project is modified, you have two options:

1. Run the sample script anyway

This will overwrite your modifications and you will need to re-apply your modifications to your work item type definitions after running the script.

2. Modify the script and files

Examine the updated Bug, Task and Scenario work item type definitions under Agile5\TypeDefinitions directory provided with the sample script ZIP file to identify the changes to enable new features.
Rename/backup the updated Bug, Task and Scenario work item type definitions under Agile5\TypeDefinitions directory
Copy your own Bug, Task and Scenario work item type definitions to Agile5\TypeDefinitions directory and change the file names to UpdatedBug.xml, UpdatedTask.xml and UpdatedScenario.xml
Apply the same changes you identified in #1 to your own Bug, Task and Scenario work item type definitions in Agile5\TypeDefinitions directory
Run the script

3. Manually update your team projects by following the instructions in the guidance documents

See Enabling New Features of Visual Studio Team System 2010 Beta 1 in Upgraded Projects for pointers to guidance documents that explain how to enable individual features.

How to Check If Your Team Project is “Unmodified”

This section explains how to check if your team project:

was created with “MSF for Agile Software Development – v4.2” process template
has modifications that would complicate running the sample script to enable the new features

As a summary, you need to look at a couple of things:

Check the list of available work item types
Check the visual layouts for existing work item types
Check the work item type definition XML files

For details about each step, see the sections below:

Step 1. Check the list of available work item types

Using Team Explorer, right click the “Work Items” node under your team project

Hover over “Add Work Item”, make the sure the list matches:

Bug
Quality of Service Requirement
Risk
Scenario
Task

If you have a different list of work items, it means your team project is either not based on “MSF for Agile Software Development – v4.2” process template, or you have additional work item types imported to your team project.

Step 2. Check the visual layouts for Bug, Task and Scenario work items

Bug work item type

Create a new Bug for your team project, and make sure the visual layout matches the screenshots below:

Bug layout (click to zoom):

History tab on Bug (click to zoom):

Links Tab on Bug (click to zoom):

File Attachments Tab on Bug (click to zoom):

Details Tab on Bug (click to zoom):

Task work item type

Create a new Task for your team project, and make sure the visual layout matches the screenshots below:

Task layout (click to zoom):

History Tab on Task (click to zoom):

Links Tab on Task (click to zoom):

File Attachments Tab on Task (click to zoom):

Details Tab on Task (click to zoom):

Scenario work item type

Create a new Scenario for your team project, and make sure the visual layout matches the screenshots below:

Scenario Layout (click to zoom):

History Tab on Scenario (click to zoom):

Links Tab on Scenario (click to zoom):

File Attachments Tab on Scenario (click to zoom):

Details Tab on Scenario (click to zoom):

If the visual layouts of your work items are different, it means the work item types on your team project has modifications.

Step 3. Check the work item type definition XMLs for Bug, Task and Scenario work items

Export the work item type definitions by running following commands from a computer that has the witadmin.exe utility:

witadmin exportwitd /s http://server:8080/tfs /p Project1 /n Bug /f Bug.xml

witadmin exportwitd /s http://server:8080/tfs /p Project1 /n Task /f Task.xml

witadmin exportwitd /s http://server:8080/tfs /p Project1 /n Scenario /f Scenario.xml

Note: Replace the server URL (http://server:8080/tfs) and project name (Project1) with your own values.

Compare the exported XML files against the ones included in the sample script ZIP file:

Agile5\TypeDefinitions\UpdatedBug.xml
Agile5\TypeDefinitions\UpdatedTask.xml
Agile5\TypeDefinitions\UpdatedScenario.xml

The only differences you see should be the newly added sections on updated work item type definitions for enabling new features. Such changes are enclosed between the following comments:

Any questions or feedback? Just send me an email.

Sample Script to Enable New Features in Upgraded Team Projects (TFS 2010 Beta1)

Hakan Eskici — Wed, 20 May 2009 14:45:00 GMT

Introduction

Test Case Management
Agile Planning Workbooks
Branch Visualization
Lab Management

In this post, I’m providing a sample script to help you with many of the steps. For complete information about enabling these features, see the following article:

Enabling New Features of Visual Studio Team System 2010 Beta 1 in Upgraded Projects

Required Changes

Feature	Requirements
Test Case Management	Add Test Case and Shared Step work item types () Update existing Bug and Scenario work item types () Add new link types () Add work item categories ()
Agile Planning Workbooks	Update existing Task and Scenario work item types (*) Create iteration and product backlog queries Bind workbooks against the queries Modify workbook document properties
Lab Management	Grant lab management permissions to user groups Provision lab resources
Reports	Update your existing reports to work against the new warehouse
Branch Visualization	Convert branches using source control explorer

(*): You can use the sample script attached to this article to make these changes marked with (*) in the table above.

However, this sample script is designed to work if the following are true:

You are using the Beta1 (English) version of Team Foundation Server 2010
Your team project was created with the English language version of “MSF for Agile Software Development - v4.2” process template before you upgraded your Team Foundation Server
No modifications have been made to the work item type definitions on your team project before or after the upgrade
You are running the script on an English operating system

You need to either modify the sample script, or create your own if:

Your team project was created with a process template other than “MSF for Agile Software Development v4.2” (English)
You have made modifications to the out of box work item type definitions on your team project
Your team project already has an existing Test Case work item type
You want to use the existing “Repro Steps” field on your Bug work item type
You are using a non-English Team Foundation Server

Sample Script

Team Foundation Server URL
Name of the team project collection
Name of the team project
Path to witadmin.exe utility
Set ConfigComplete = 1 to indicate that you’ve completed this step

Important: This script will only work against “unmodified” team projects created with “MSF for Agile Software Development – v4.2” process templates on Beta1 version of Team Foundation Server 2010.

Download the Sample Script

What does the script do?

The script is a simple batch file that uses the witadmin.exe utility to make the following changes:

Saves a backup of your existing Bug, Task and Scenario work item types
Adds new link types (Test Case / Shared Steps and Tests / Tested By)
Adds new work item types (Test Case and Shared Step)
Overwrites Bug, Task and Scenario work item types
Adds work item categories

Questions?

For answers to frequently asked questions such as how to determine whether your team project is “unmodified”, see my follow up blog post:

FAQ on the Sample Script to Enable New Features in Upgraded Team Projects

If you have any questions about the script, feel free to contact me.

Enable Branch Visualization in Upgraded Team Projects (TFS 2010 Beta1)

Hakan Eskici — Tue, 19 May 2009 23:29:51 GMT

As part of the series on “enabling new features in upgraded team projects”; Jamie Cool, our Lead Program Manager on Team Foundation Server team, talks about enabling branch visualization features in upgraded team projects:

In Team Foundation Server 2010, we have significantly enhanced the concept of a branch. We have added functionality to branches such as:

Branches can now be clearly identified in the source control explorer.

You can now visualize your branch hierarchy and visually track your code changes as they move through your branches.

You can assign branch operation security. Ex. Who can create/delete a branch and who can merge a branch.

Branches now have checks in place to discourage poor branching structures.

In order to take advantage of these new features, you will need to convert your previously branched folders to fully fledged branches. The steps for doing this are as follows:

Identify the branch structure you are currently using. If you would like to change your branch structure, now may be a good time to do so, but it is not necessary.

Identify the folder in your solution explorer mapped to your parent (top level) branch.

Right click on that folder. On the context menu select “Branching and Merging” & then “Convert Folder to Branch”. This will open a dialog for doing the conversion of a folder to a branch.

At the bottom of the dialog, check the “Recursively perform this conversion for all branched child folders”.

Next click the “Convert” button. This will upgrade this folder to a branch. It will also walk the branch tree and convert all folders that have been branched from this folder.

Your branches should now be shown with the branch icon in the source control explorer tree.

If you have any folders that had their relationship established via Baseless Merge, you will need to use the “Reparent Branch” option from the “Branching & Merging” context menu to establish the parent/child relationship in the branch hierarchy.

Repeat these steps for all remaining branch trees in your solution.

Now that you have completed this step, you should be able to take advantage of the powerful new branching features in Team Foundation Server 2010. You can now view your branch structure visually by selecting “Branching and Merging” and then “View Hierarchy” from the branch context menu. You can also choose to “Track Changes” from a work item’s context menu to see how the changeset associated with that work item has moved through your various branches.

You can check out the MSDN documentation on Branch Visualization to learn more about the capabilities available to you:

How to: View the Branch Hierarchy of a Team Project

How to: View Where and When Changesets Have Been Merged

Enjoy!

Jamie Cool