Last week I wrapped up the installation of our new Team Foundation Server 2008 setup. I had previously installed it in a single-server archtecture, but we decided to go to the dual-server configuration. Why? Because I am trying to consolidate everything by purpose into different VMs on our new app server. This means that I have 1 VM for SQL server, another one for SharePoint and other collaborative applications, and so on. When I went to install TFS into this, it was an incredible headache.
For one thing, TFS requires 32 bit Windows; since this is TFS 2008, and because so many of the 2007 and 2008 Microsoft server products (Exchange, for example) require 64 bit Windows, I think that this is going to be a real problem, especially for small shops. So now I have a 32 bit Windows 2008 VM just for TFS.
The installation took forever. I went through all of the checklists, but there was always something wrong. Oddly enough, the #1 offender was SQL Server Reporting Services. The TFS installer is supposed to configure the unconfigured SSRS install, but the default install in broken. I had to delete the encryption keys (for whatever reason) to make it work, which could bite me in the rear down the road.
I then had further problems with installing the SharePoint extensions on my 64 bit SharePoint install. Apparently, the TFS disk doesn't ship with a 64 bit version of this, and the error message doesn't say anything about it, just throws a dumb, useless error message. Luckily, they made a 64 bit version a few months ago.
Over all, I must say that this install was one of the most miserable installations that I ahve ever done of a Microsoft product. I know that TFS is supposed to be "enterprise class", but many of their other "enterprise class" products are smooth sailing. I can't see what makes TFS so special that it can't be an easier installation. If Microsoft wants more shops to use it, they need to make it easy to deploy. No one can evaluate it in its current state, it requires too much work.
J.Ja