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Installing TFS 2008 on Windows 2008

Our dear friend Etienne has written up his experiences installing TFS 2008 on Windows 2008.  It's definitely more complex than installing it on Windows 2003.  The issues revolve around our uncertainty of the status of WSS on Windows 2008 at the time we were shipping TFS 2008.  Etienne's blog post details the steps he went through to get it installed and working.  Learning from what he has done can save you time and trouble until we get a chance to simplify the experience.

The thing Etienne didn't cover, that I expect many customers will face, is upgrading a Windows 2003 server with TFS on it to Windows 2008.  Unfortunately, this will be even trickier.  The stumbling blocks include...  You will have to upgrade TFS 2005 (if that's what you have) to TFS 2008 because TFS 2005 doesn't support Windows 2008.  You can't upgrade the OS and have TFS keep working.  At best you can upgrade to OS and reinstall TFS in some series of steps.  At worst, you will need to back everything up, flatten the box and reinstall the OS, restore the TFS databases and then reinstall TFS.  I will make sure we have some good instructions for all of this and then point you at them.

Brian

Published Wednesday, February 06, 2008 9:22 AM by bharry
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# BioSensorAB » Installing TFS 2008 on Windows 2008

Wednesday, February 06, 2008 9:56 AM by BioSensorAB » Installing TFS 2008 on Windows 2008

PingBack from http://www.biosensorab.org/2008/02/06/installing-tfs-2008-on-windows-2008/

# re: Installing TFS 2008 on Windows 2008

Thursday, February 07, 2008 2:49 PM by Matt Newman

Is this the 32-bit version of Windows 2008 or the 64-bit? I upgraded all of my servers to 64-bit and would like to take advantage of my hardware (specifically memory) and I'm really tired of VSS :)

I'd like to know for sure before I spend an entire day rebuilding a server for TFS just to find out I used the wrong version of Windows 2008.

# re: Installing TFS 2008 on Windows 2008

Friday, February 08, 2008 9:47 AM by bharry

32-bit version.  TFS 2008 application tier still only supports 32-bit.  Some people run it in a 32-bit VM on a 64-bit machine.  SQLServer, of course can be run on 64-bit.  Our next version will support 64-bit.

Brian

# re: Installing TFS 2008 on Windows 2008

Friday, February 08, 2008 10:12 AM by Matt Newman

Thanks, maybe this is a good time to start looking into Hyper-V

# re: Installing TFS 2008 on Windows 2008

Tuesday, February 12, 2008 8:55 AM by Mike Warriner

Brian,

After some (much) hacking of the setup program I've got TFS running fine on 64bit Windows - is there any technical reason you're not supporting this or is it just that you haven't tested it yet?

I'm sure many of us would REALLY appreciate it if you could do an SP release that fixed the bugs in the setup program and did support it please...

thanks,

Mike

# re: Installing TFS 2008 on Windows 2008

Tuesday, February 12, 2008 9:14 AM by bharry

Wow! That's pretty amazing.  Is it running as  a 64-bit process or a 32-bit process.  Have you checked the event log to see that it is working without spewing errors.

The issues are more than the fact that we have not tested it.  Here's a dump of things that come to the top of my head:

1) We compile all of our managed DLLs as 32-bit only.  They shouldn't load in a 64-bit process.

2) We use an unmanaged code 32-bit library for doing deltification in the version control store.  That definitely should not work in 64-bit.

3) Our work item tracking client library has code in it that is not 64-bit safe.  Normally, this won't affect the server unless you also install Team System Web Access (which requires it).

4) The setup program doesn't handle installing on 64-bit properly.

I'm sure there's more but that's the things I can think of off the top of my head.  The truth is the single biggest reason we didn't do it in TFS 2008 was the setup cost.  The rest of the issues in the code are pretty small (and, in fact, we've already addressed them - post TFS 2008).

I really wish we could get all of this into SP1 but I don't think that is going to happen.  I'll check and see the status of just getting the code fixes in there.  That may or may not be possible.

I'm interested in hearing more about what you have accomplished.

Brian

# re: Installing TFS 2008 on Windows 2008

Tuesday, February 12, 2008 10:40 AM by Rizwan Shah

I did everything (prerequisites), spent one full day, but today after lunch I was ready to install TFS and was very excited as I followed everything for the first time for a software installation which I normally don't on the advice of my Manager who had trouble installing TFS 2005 and guess what I come across. A message saying that TFS is not supported on 64-bit. I want to bang my head on the wall now. I just did not find any such info anywhere until now, on this blog. In the help file it just talks about Windows Server 2003. Elsewhere it says it's a download that support Windows Server 2008 but it doesn't say 32 or 64 bit. I trusted Microsoft again. Anyway, I have to disclose this to my Manager and tell him that it's still possible but only if Mike tells us how. Thanks.

Rizwan

# re: Installing TFS 2008 on Windows 2008

Tuesday, February 12, 2008 12:05 PM by Mike Warriner

Ok, so I'm running Windows 2008 RTM in 64bit mode.  I installed SQL 2005 x64 with reporting serverand the Windows Sharepoint 3.0 server in x64 mode too.

So on IIS7 I have 3 IIS Application pools:

1. Microsoft Team Foundation Server Application Pool, running as TFSSERVICE in 32bit mode

2. ReportServer running as NetworkService in 64bit mode

3. Sharepoint Central Administration v3 running as tfsservice in 64bit mode

Setup was a PITA as you'd expect, but broadly the problems I had were:

1. The setup program does a detect of 64bit mode and stops, fixed by editing some of the config files in the setup directory

2. The setup program detects Sharepoint being installed by looking in the wrong place in the 64bit registry rather than the Wow6432Node so I had to copy the tree across

3. The setup program constantly gets the 32bit/64bit nature of application pools wrong, so one has to manually fix it when you get an error and click Retry to proceed

4. (I had to stop at least twice and reboot to get #3 completed)

5. The setup program breaks Reporting Server in some inexcruitable way so I had to delete the reporting server virtual directory and re-create it.

As far as I can tell I can do reports, sharepoint access and source control, although the reason I needed this server was for source control only so I haven't spent too much time on the web portal.

My Warning: If you are looking for a business critical solution, use 32bit!

Mike

# re: Installing TFS 2008 on Windows 2008

Wednesday, February 13, 2008 10:39 AM by bharry

Rizwan, It pains me to hear your story.  I've passed your feedback on to the doc team to make sure we make the 64-bit limitation more clear.  Mike is a true trail blazer and I caution you against following in his footsteps.  You are likely going to have problems with that approach down the road - applying service packs, etc.  At this point, the best thing I can recommend for you is to leave the machine 64-bit and run your SQL server that way but create a 32-bit VM to run TFS in.

Brian

# re: Installing TFS 2008 on Windows 2008

Sunday, February 17, 2008 3:41 PM by Wes MacDonald

I actually did an upgrade on my TFS 2008 demo machine just to see how things would turn out.

# re: Installing TFS 2008 on Windows 2008

Tuesday, February 19, 2008 3:06 PM by Mark Sowul

I had the same experience as Rizwant.  WTF, I read that stupid installation guide (even downloaded the new one), waste damn near a whole day setting up a nice new WS 2008, then SQL server, and then I go to install TFS and the ****** tells me no 64 bit.  WTF?  Seriously, WTF.  You'd think there might be some mention of this tiny fact beforehand, but no.  And why on earth does it matter that things are 32 bit, isn't that the whole damn point of WoW64?  Thanks a whole lot.  I always get chided by my coworkers for trusting MS, and they always get proved right.  (See also, undocumented breaking change in .NET 2.0 SP1 by blindly enabling DEP because managed code works fine with it.  Oh wait, you're using a 3rd party ATL component?  Tough luck.)  Really, WTF goes on in people's heads there in Redmond?

# re: Installing TFS 2008 on Windows 2008

Tuesday, February 19, 2008 7:02 PM by Mark Sowul

Well, I did eventually find the section of the install guide where 64 bit compatibility was mentioned, but it's bogus that it can't run as a 32 bit app.  Really, WTF?  The only things that should be incompatible with x64 are kernel-mode drivers and 16-bit apps.  Mark the app as being 32 bit only if there are unmanaged 32 bit dlls; it's better than not supporting 64 bit at all.  There's no good excuse for this, ESPECIALLY if it's mainly setup issues as you say.  That is among the lamest things I have heard - really, how much worse is the setup going to get over what it already is?  And it's just pathetic that this hasn't been resolved since 2005.

# re: Installing TFS 2008 on Windows 2008

Wednesday, February 20, 2008 8:11 AM by bharry

There's nothing I can say to defend that TFS doesn't support 64-bit today.  It's shameful and there's no debating it.  I felt terrible about it the day we made the decision to cut it and I feel terrible about it today.  In the end, there are only so many things we can do.  We wanted to do this and it just didn't fit.  We chose to prioritize other setup things over this - support for SQL named instances, non-default ports, client certificates, fail-over/clustering configuration, decoupling TFS from WSS, WSS 3.0 support and the list goes on.  The cost estimates to support 64-bit installation at the time we made the decision were exorbitant.  In retrospect, I now believe they were inflated but that's water under the bridge.  We are working on 64-bit support now and will have it for our next release.  Until then, all I can do is appologize and point out that although there are a few things I'm ashamed of, they are dwarfed by the thing I am proud of.  There are a bunch of great things about TFS.  Those things that are not will get fixed.

As for the docs not being clear about 64-bit up front, I have passed that feedback on to the doc team and I believe they will fix it in the next installation guide refresh.

Brian

# re: Installing TFS 2008 on Windows 2008

Thursday, February 21, 2008 1:51 PM by Shaun

"A 64-bit operating system is not supported."  Awesome.  It's pretty darn cool that the help file the error message links to directs me to download and install SP1 for Server 2003, too (that's definitely useful information in this situation, guys).

Heard enough about how much it sucks that TFS doesn't support x64, yet?  I kind of doubt you'd have this many complaints if you had neglected support for named instances.  Or non-default ports.  Or both.  Windows 2008's "recommendation" is 2GB or more of RAM, that's fully half of the maximum supported by 32-bit Standard Edition.

So, about that "next release" ... Are we talking "Hawaii"?  2010 or so?  Maybe we'll get 64-bit support when WinFS ships.  And then maybe we'll have to wait for the next release for TFS to support that.

# re: Installing TFS 2008 on Windows 2008

Friday, February 22, 2008 1:22 PM by Chris

Wow Shaun.

I guess you have been having a hard time with TFS...

# re: Installing TFS 2008 on Windows 2008

Monday, March 03, 2008 8:14 PM by Manish Jain

It will be great if you can make high priority and release in one of service packs. We have hardware/OS and almost all softwares support 64-bit except TFS.

# re: Installing TFS 2008 on Windows 2008

Monday, March 03, 2008 8:16 PM by Manish Jain

Anyone tried TFS 2008 on Windows 2003 64-bit WOW64? Any links/blogs?

# re: Installing TFS 2008 on Windows 2008

Tuesday, March 04, 2008 9:34 AM by bharry

Thanks for the feedback.  It is high on our priority list and the work is nearly complete for our next version.  Unfortunately it won't make SP1 due to the invasiveness of the change.

Brian

# re: Installing TFS 2008 on Windows 2008

Wednesday, March 26, 2008 4:57 PM by David L

Having just been through a migration of our company infrastructure to the latest RELEASED versions of the commonly used Enterprise Servers, I have only to express my dissapointment.

There seems to be confusion amongst the various product groups at Microsoft; Exgange 2007 requires a 64 bit OS for install, but 32 bit for management applications... TFS 2008 is not supported on 64 bit OS...

Even Visual Studio 2008 Professional will not allow you to create a Data Connection via the Server Explorer to a development instance of SQL 2008.

I understand the complexity of these systems, but is nonody at Microsoft looking at integration of their product line, or the realities of their enterprise customers? Virtual Machines are fine for many scenarios, but to HAVE to use them to install 'same year release' products is slightly mad.

# A couple of notes about installing TFS on Windows Server 2008

Sunday, April 13, 2008 8:14 PM by Dave's Team System Blog

Brian Harry blogged about Installing TFS 2008 on Windows 2008 , and referenced Etienne Tremblay's guide

# re: Installing TFS 2008 on Windows 2008

Monday, April 21, 2008 8:55 AM by bharry

I understand your frustration with our 64-bit story.  I too am unhappy with it and we are working hard to correct it.

I don't agree with your frustration with VS and SQL 2008.  SQL 2008 is an unreleased product and has changed significantly since VS 2008 shipped.  There are test patches you can download that will enable VS 2008 to work with SQL 2008 and VS 2008 SP1 will include official support for SQL 2008 and will come out about the same time SQL 2008 releases.

Brian

# re: Installing TFS 2008 on Windows 2008

Friday, May 02, 2008 5:18 PM by Matt Holmes

I have to say, I am pretty miffed now. We just spent 8 grand on a server to house TFS, and we got it with 64-bit Windows, because NO WHERE in the TFS pre-reqs does it say it doesn't 64-bit.

Guess what? I now have to go tell my boss I messed up and I can't install TFS on the 8 thousand dollar development server we just bought. How much fun do you think I am going to have in that meeting?

I can't believe that Microsoft ever thought it was a good idea to release a SERVER product without a 64-bit compatible solution. So my two choices are to swallow my pride and take my lumps for Microsoft, or some how cobble it together like a previous user did.

# Windows 2008 への TFS 2008 のインストール

Wednesday, June 25, 2008 3:26 AM by bharry's WebLog

私たちの友人 Etienne が、 Windows 2008 への TFS 2008 のインストール (英語) ついて書きました。これは、Windows 2003 へのインストールよりも間違いなく複雑です。問題の中心は、TFS

# re: Installing TFS 2008 on Windows 2008

Thursday, July 17, 2008 1:15 PM by Vice

Brian ,

any news on this ? I stay in same situation of Matt , buyed very expansive server , installed Windows 2008 64 bit ...start TFS installation and..OMG ! No support for 64-bit ..is a joke ?

Plz share a workaround with us , coz I CANT report this to my boss..I will be fired :(

# re: Installing TFS 2008 on Windows 2008

Friday, July 18, 2008 9:38 AM by bharry

I'm sorry to say nothing has changed and it won't until our next release.  What I recommend to people in your situation is to install a VM on your 64-bit server that is running a 32-bit guest OS.  Run your SQL server on the 64-bit host and your TFS app tier in the 32-bit guest.  We will release 64-bit support as soon as we can.

Brian

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