Accentient - Martin Danner

Two Accentient Consultants Named Team System MVPs

Thu, 02 Apr 2009 16:29:45 GMT

I’m pleased to announce that fellow Accentient Consultants David Starr and Michael Vincent have been named Team System MVPs!

David Starr is the founder of the Elegant Code community blog and podcast series, and also organized the recent, highly successful Boise Code Camp. David has over 18 years of experience in software development and has held numerous leadership positions in technology teams. He is a frequent speaker at technology conferences, a writer, and is involved in several .NET and Agile professional organizations. His passions include Agile software development, building strong teams, Application Lifecycle Management, Visual Studio Team System, and .NET.

Michael Vincent has been actively involved in user group communities since the early 90's, founding both the SoCal .Net Architecture group, also known as the International Association of Software Architects Southern California Chapter, and the Orange County C# Developers group which became the Orange County .NET User Group. Mike is a frequent presenter at local and regional user groups and Southern California Code Camps and has served with INETA as the California Membership Mentor.

Congratulations to both for this well-deserved recognition.

Team Foundation Adapters Project

Tue, 10 Mar 2009 00:02:51 GMT

I'm pleased to announce that the Team Foundation Adapters project is up and running on CodePlex. The project description is as follows:

Team Foundation Adapters make it easier to do proper unit testing of applications that utilize the Team Foundation Server API, by providing a simple mechanism for mocking the commonly used sealed classes in the API, which cannot otherwise be mocked.

This is not vaporware folks. There's a working implementation, complete with sample unit tests. The project does not cover the entire Team Foundation API just yet. But it establishes a clearly defined baseline that will grow as needed.

Please have a look at the project and let me know what you think of this approach. If you like it, be sure to tell your friends about it.

Many thanks to Jeff Bramwell, William Bartholomew, Martin Woodward and Mitch Denny for joining up as contributors. If you're interested in contributing as well, please let me know.

Inside the Microsoft Build Engine

Wed, 14 Jan 2009 16:00:39 GMT

There has been a vacuum of really good, actionable information on MS Build and Team Foundation Build for developers. I’m pleased to report that this is no longer the case! Inside the Microsoft Build Engine, by Sayed Ibrahim Hashimi and William Bartholomew, fills the void with a book that serves well as both a learning guide and a reference tool. Here’s the product description:

"The build process when code gets assembled to see how and how well it works is a critical step in software development. Developers had few options for customizing the build process before Visual Studio 2005 and Visual Studio 2008, but the Microsoft Build Engine (MSBuild) enables developers to customize each step during a build. MSBuild is extensible and uses an XML file to describe each step, allowing the build master or developer to easily change and augment how projects are built. This book offers hands-on guidance for customizing MSBuild, and provides a cookbook of examples on Web deployment, automated releases, and other essential topics. It also covers Visual Studio Team Foundation Build, the build engine in Visual Studio Team System."

If you have anything to do with automated builds using Team Foundation Server, this book is a must-have. I know this for a fact because I had the opportunity to serve as a technical reviewer for the book.

How to Disable the Team Members feature of the October 2008 Power Tools

Thu, 08 Jan 2009 23:02:38 GMT

Some Team System users are complaining about problems with the Team Members feature included in the Team Foundation Server Power Tools – October 2008 Release. For team projects with many members, the load time can be excessive. Other problems have cropped up as well. For instance, one user reported that their Windows Communicator freezes during long TFS operations like “get latest”. Although the Team Members plug-in has some very useful features, you may find that it’s more trouble than it’s worth for your particular situation. In this case, you have two options:

Option 1: Disable the Team Members feature. In the Visual Studio, navigate to Tools –> Options –> Team Foundation Server Power Tools –> General, then set Team Members to False.

This does not remove the Team Members node from your team projects in Team Explorer, but the node no longer does anything. Also, some of the Team Members start-up logic still executes. If this continues to cause problems for you, then try this more drastic fix:

Option 2: Registry hack. This is a more complete way of disabling the TeamMembers feature, but it cannot be done in the Visual Studio IDE. Using the RegEdit utility, navigate to:

HKCU\Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio\9.0\TeamFoundation\PowerTools

Add a new String Value named TeamTrackerHidden and set its value to True.

This setting tells the Team Explorer to not load the Team Members plug-in. This will cause the Team Members node to appear as a folder with a red X on it, which is mildly annoying. However, this option will definitely eliminate any issues you’re having with the Team Members feature.

(Thanks to Bill Essary @ Microsoft for providing these work-arounds)

A Visual Studio Mystery - The Case of the Missing Menu Items

Wed, 31 Dec 2008 16:01:14 GMT

Recently I was working with a client who installed the Team Foundation Client 2008 on his workstation, and subsequently decided to install Visual Studio 2008 Development Edition. The installation completed normally, but when he launched Visual Studio he quickly discovered that some important things were missing.

For instance, the File menu was missing the New Project item. It was as if the we were still looking at the Team Foundation Client, and that the installation of the Development Edition had somehow failed. At first this was very puzzling until a sharp developer suggested that we look at the Settings (Tools –> Import and Export Settings)

Sure enough, Team Foundation Client had installed and automatically selected the setting called Project Management. Although the Development Edition installation added a few more settings, it left the selection unchanged. Once we changed the selection to something more appropriate, all the normal menus became visible. Mystery solved!

Another TFS Blogger

Wed, 31 Dec 2008 07:09:55 GMT

Kevin Hick, a talented .NET developer who has done extensive work customizing Team Foundation Server at HBOS in the UK, has started a blog to share some of his more interesting TFS discoveries with the rest of us. You find his blog here. If you work with TFS you’ll want to add Kevin’s blog to your reader.

New Visual Studio Team System 2008 VPC Images Available

Richard Hundhausen — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 06:16:02 GMT

Brian Randell recently announced the availability of new Visual Studio Team System evaluation VPC images. These virtual machines are very handy sandboxes that contain Team Foundation Server and Team Suite, all setup and ready to go. You can use these virtual machines not only for evaluating purposes, but also for learning about Team System and experimenting without worrying about messing up things.

These virtual images are set to expire in December 2009, providing a full year of use. The set consists of four versions:

VSTS “all-up” Virtual PC/Virtual Server image (6 GB download, expands to 15 GB)
TFS “only” Virtual PC/Virtual Server image (3 GB download, expands to 8 GB)
VSTS “all-up” Hyper-V image (6 GB download, expands to 15 GB)
TFS “only” Hyper-V image (3 GB download, expands to 8 GB)

Use the links above to navigate to the download pages for these virtual machines. But, if you prefer not to download eleven massive files one at a time, you can use Free Download Manager to queue up and download all the files automatically.

The text file below contains a list of the files to download for each virtual image. Simply copy the list for the image you want, then paste the list into Free Download Manager using Ctrl-Shift-V.

Team_System_2008_SP1_Trial_Image_Download_List.txt (5.93 KB)

Using 64-bit Windows Server 2008 as a Workstation OS, Part 3

Richard Hundhausen — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 07:23:08 GMT

This article lists the steps I used to setup Windows Server 2008 (WS2008) Standard Edition as a workstation operating system on two different laptops.

First, if you plan to use WS2008 and Hyper-V to run virtual machines on a laptop, you’ll get best results if your laptop meets these criteria:

Processor that supports hardware virtualization (required for Hyper-V)
At least 4GB memory (8GB if you want to run multiple virtual machines simultaneously)
Fast internal hard disk (I’m using a 320GB 7200 RPM SATA drive)

I should also mention that I’m using WS2008 for running virtual machines in Hyper-V, and also for email, web-browsing, word-processing, spreadsheets and presentations. That’s it. Since Hyper-V performance is of primary importance to me, I don’t install the Vista-like Desktop Experience feature or tweak processor scheduling to improve media playback.

Now, here are the specific step to install WS2008.

1. If you’re replacing an existing operating system that you’ve already been using, then backup anything you want to save to an external drive. The folders I backed-up include:

a. C:\Users\{your username}
b. Project folders

2. Gather drivers for your laptop. Vista x64 drivers should work just fine.

3. Run the Windows installation

a. Create 2 partitions
i. A 40GB partition called RECOVERY, for backups
ii. All the rest goes to another partition SYSTEM

b. Install WS2008 on the SYSTEM partition

4. After the WS2008 installation completes, log on as Administrator and run Windows Update multiple times until there are no more Important updates to install.

5. Using the Server Manager app, add the following Role: Hyper-V.

6. Using the Server Manager app, add the Features you want. Here are the features I found useful:

a. Telnet Client (useful for testing ports and what have you)
b. Windows Server Backup
c. Windows Powershell
d. Wireless LAN Service

7. If you want to remove Internet Explorer Enhanced Security:

a. Using Server Manager, go to the Security Information section of the summary page and click on “Configure IE ESC”. Adjust settings to personal preference.

8. If you are not installed WS2008 SP1 (Build 6001), you may need to install the RTM version of Hyper-V. Download it from here.

9. Install your office productivity software.

10. Run Windows Update, install everything not marked Optional.

11. Using Windows Backup, backup the C: drive to the RECOVERY partition.

12. Using the Hyper-V Manager, available through the Server Manager, setup your virtual machines on Hyper-V.

13. Use this nifty converter tool to further configure the OS. Options I installed are:

a. General
i. Set owner information
ii. Disable IE Enhanced Security Configuration
b. Visual Tweaks
i. Disable ctrl+alt+del at Windows Startup
ii. Disable Shutdown Event Tracker
c. Network
i. Enable Wireless Networking
d. Other
i. Enable Windows Search Service

Gotchas

Since Hyper-V is a service that’s always running, it’s more difficult to use VHDs on an external drive. I’ve been told that it is possible to unmount an external drive containing a VHD used by a Hyper-V virtual machine, but I’ve not yet figured out how.
The Hyper-V role disables sleep mode and hibernate. I’ve seen some blog posts that describe a registry hack to enable sleep mode. But from what I’ve gathered it introduces system instability, so I’m willing to go without these handy features. More info here.
It used to be that you could not install Windows Live Messenger or Windows Live Writer directly. But I’m pleased to report that the Windows Live installer now fully supports Windows Server 2008!
If you install the Desktop Experience feature (I didn’t – don’t want to waste CPU cycles on it), Windows Vista desktop is not enabled by default, and it’s not at all clear how to get it setup. Here’s a great blog post that walks you through the process.
Here is another excellent blog post on tweaks to make Windows Server 2008 a better desktop OS.
Virtual machines configured to run on Virtual PC will need to be reconfigured to run on Hyper-V. This blog post walks through the process.

Using 64-bit Windows Server 2008 as a Workstation OS, Part 2

Richard Hundhausen — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 23:00:57 GMT

Way back in July I wrote a blog post explaining why I switched from Windows Vista to Windows Server 2008 (WS2008) as the primary OS for my laptop. Well I’ve lived with WS2008 for a few months now, and although there are more than a few inconveniences associated with it, I still think the advantages outweigh the disadvantages, at least for the work that I do. As I installed WS2008 on my laptop I made notes, thinking this might be useful information, not only for the next time around, but also to share with my compatriots in the blog-o-sphere.

I recently purchased a Dell XPS M1530 laptop with all the bells and whistles: T9300 processor, 4GB RAM, 320GB 7200 RPM internal SATA drive, and hi-res glossy widescreen display. This time I decided to leave Windows Vista on the machine to play games and movies and enjoy all the other consumer candy that comes with it. So, I installed WS2008 in a dual-boot configuration, with WS2008 being the default OS. To do this, though, I had to make room on the internal hard drive. I wanted to devote as little space to Vista as possible because I didn’t expect to use it much. Vista was consuming about 15GB, so I figured that shrinking it’s partition down to 30GB would be more than sufficient. Much to my surprise though, the Disk Management utility in Vista was not willing to shrink the volume below 150GB. WTF!

A bit of investigation lead me to this article. Based on its advice I defragged and optimized the volume using a 15-day free trial of Perfect Disk 2008. But some system files simply refused to move from the middle of the Vista volume. So, I did what any rational person would do: give up. I ended up with a 150GB Vista partition with gobs of free space. Arggh. As it turns out though, the Vista volume mounts as drive D in WS2008, so I decided to use all that extra space in the Vista volume (drive D) to store the huge virtual hard disk files (VHDs) for the Hyper-V virtual machines I would be installing later. Problem solved!

The WS2008 installation went smoothly. The WS2008 installer even set up the dual boot menu to appear on startup, with WS2008 as the default selection. Perfect!

In the next installment I’ll share the steps I used to install and configure Windows Server 2008 Standard Edition as a laptop OS.

Virtual Networking in Hyper-V

Richard Hundhausen — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 17:41:28 GMT

Getting a virtual machine connected to the outside world in Hyper-V is a non-intuitive process. I had to bumble around with it a bit before finding the secret combination that worked well. Before I show you how it’s done (or at least one way of doing it), here are a couple of things to keep in mind:

When you add the Hyper-V role to Windows Server 2008, Hyper-V more or less takes over the physical computer and Windows Server 2008 becomes a virtual machine running in a special space called the home partition.
Hyper-V uses the concept of virtual networks. It’s as if your computer magically ingested a Netgear network switch, you know, that little blue box with lots of blinking lights on one side and network cable plugs on the other, which you use to create a home computer network. That’s right, the brilliant folks at Microsoft figured out how to suck one of those network switched right into their server operating system (I’m not sure, but I think they’re using Wonkavision technology to do it). Not only is the network switch virtualized, but all the cables to connect to it are virtualized as well. Now that’s handy.
Hyper-V implements three types of virtual networks: external, private and internal. An external virtual network gives virtual machines direct access to a physical network adapters on the physical computer. In effect, the virtual network shares the physical network adapter with the parent operating system (the Windows Server 2008 originally installed on the computer). A private network is used to connect two or more virtual machines running on the same physical computer to one another. An internal network is just like a private network, except it includes the parent operating system as well.
A virtual machine connects to a virtual network through a Hyper-V network adapter. Yep, you guessed it – a Hyper-V network adapter is virtual as well. Each virtual network adapter can connect to only one virtual network. However, a virtual machine can have multiple virtual network adapters, with each adapter connected to a different virtual network.
You can create any number of virtual networks and virtual network adapters in Hyper-V, limited only by how much load the hardware can support.
You cannot create an external virtual network that connects to a wireless network adapter. Sorry, the folks who created Hyper-V simply decided not to go there. Fortunately there’s a simple workaround that I’ll show you in this post.

Let’s say you want to configure your virtual machine to automatically use the physical network adapter whenever it’s plugged into a live connection, and also use a wireless connection when the physical network adapter is not plugged in. Here’s how you do it:

Step 1. Setup your Virtual Networks

This procedure assumes that you are running Windows Server 2008 on a computer that supports hardware virtualization, and that you are logged into an account that is a member of the Administrators group.

Launch the Hyper-V Manager

Create an Internal virtual network

In the Actions menu, click on Virtual Network Manager
In the box labeled “What type of virtual network do you want to create?” select Internal. Click the Add button.
In the New Virtual Network dialog box, enter the following:
- Name: Internal Virtual Network (wireless)
- Connection type: Internal Only
Click OK

Create an External virtual network

Click on Virtual Network Manager
In the box labeled “What type of virtual network do you want to create?” select Internal. Click the Add button.
In the New Virtual Network dialog box, enter the following:
- Name: External Virtual Network (wired)
- Connection type: External
Select the network adapter you want to use in the drop-down list
Click OK

The Virtual Network Manager should look something like this:

Step 2. Setup the Wireless Network Connection for Sharing

This step is the secret ingredient that allows a Hyper-V virtual machine to access a network connection through the physical computer's wireless adapter.

Switch over to the parent operating system; i.e., the Windows Server 2008 originally installed on the physical computer.
Launch the Network and Sharing Center
Click on Manage Network Connections
Note that there is a new network connection for each of the virtual networks you created in Step 3.
Right-click on the Local Area Connection that shows “Internal Virtual Network (wireless)” below its name. Select Rename. Give it the name “Internal Virtual Network Connection”
Right-click on the Local Area Connection that shows “External Virtual Network (wired)” below its name. Select Rename. Give it the name “External Virtual Network Connection”
Right-click on your Wireless Network Connection and select Properties
Click on the Sharing tab
Select the checkbox labeled “Allow other network users to connect through this computer’s Internet connection”
Click OK
Your Network Connections list should now look something like this:

Step 3. Connect a Virtual Machine to the Virtual Networks

The procedure can only be performed on a virtual machine that is turned off. Do this for each virtual machine you want to connect to the external world.

Switch to the Hyper-V Manager
Select the virtual machine you want to configure.
Click on the Settings link
In the Hardware list, click on Network Adapter
In the Network Adapter properties pane, select Internal Virtual Network (wireless). Click the Apply button
In the Hardware list, click on Add New Hardware
In the Add Hardware properties pane, select Network Adapter, then click the Add button
Back in the Hardware List, click on the Network Adapter marked “Not Connected”
In the Network Adapter properties pane, select External Virtual Network (wired). Click the Apply button.
The Hardware list should now contain these two entries:
Click OK to complete the configuration.

Step 4. Give it a Whirl

Verify that the parent operating system has Internet connectivity
Start the virtual machine
In the virtual machine, log on, open a web browser and browse to your favorite web site.

Your virtual machine should now have total Internet connectivity!

Team Build Target Map

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 00:57:40 GMT

Team_Build_Target_Map1.docx (22.73 KB)

I had the good fortune of reviewing the upcoming book titled Inside the Microsoft® Build Engine: Using MSBuild and Team Foundation Build. This book is an absolute must for anyone who is creating and customizing build definitions in Team Foundation Build. As part of my review process I created a map that lists the order of target invocation. I found this map very handy, so I’m posting it because I figure others will find it handy too. The map is listed below, and also contained in the attached word document. If you make any corrections or improvements to the map, please share back!

By the way, MSBuild Sidekick turned out to be very useful in building this map. The Team Foundation Build targets file is large and complex. MSBuild Sidekick's tree-view makes it much easier to navigate this beast, and the search features made it easy to traverse the target dependencies. This is a very handy tool for editing (or studying) build scripts.

This map shows the order of target execution in the Team Build targets file, %ProgramFiles%\MSBuild\Microsoft\VisualStudio\TeamBuild\Microsoft.TeamFoundation.Build.targets. The target names in the map are color coded as follows:

Green: this is an extensibility target that can be customized in your TFSBuild.proj file
Blue: This is run as a separate MSBuild process to support parallel processing

EndToEndIteration

When a Team Build agent starts a new build, the build starts by invoking the EndToEndIteration target. This target then invokes the following chain of targets.

·         CheckSettingsForEndToEndIteration

·         InitializeBuildProperties

·         BeforeEndToEndIteration

·         BuildNumberOverrideTarget

·         InitializeEndToEndIteration

·         InitializeWorkspace

o   BeforeInitializeWorkspace

o   CoreInitializeWorkspace

o   AfterInitializeWorkspace

·         TeamBuild

o   CleanAll (CleanCompilationOutputOnly != true)

o   InitializeBuild

o   PreBuild

§ Get

·         BeforeGet

·         CoreGet (SkipGet != true)

·         AfterGet

§ Label

·         BeforeLabel

·         CoreLabel (SkipLabel != true)

·         AfterLabel

o   CleanCompilationOutput (CleanCompilationOutputOnly == true)

§ BeforeClean

§ CallClean (SkipClean != true)

·         CoreCleanCompilationOutput

o   ComputeConfigurationList

o   CleanConfiguration

§ BeforeCleanConfiguration

§ CoreCleanConfiguration

·         ComputeSolutionList

·         CleanSolution

§ AfterCleanConfiguration

§ AfterClean

o   Compile

§ BeforeCompile

§ CallCompile

·         CoreCompile

o   CompileConfiguration

§ BeforeCompileConfiguration

§ CoreCompileConfiguration

·         ComputeSolutionList

·         CompileSolution

o   BeforeCompileSolution

o   CoreCompileSolution

o   AfterCompileSolution

§ AfterCompileConfiguration

§ AfterCompile

o   PostBuild (SkipPostBuild != true)

§ GetChangesetsAndUpdateWorkItems

·         BeforeGetChangesetsAndUpdateWorkItems

·         CoreGetChangesetsAndUpdateWorkItems (SkipGetChangesetsAndUpdateWorkItems != true)

·         AfterGetChangesetsAndUpdateWorkItems

o   Test

§ BeforeTest

§ CoreTest

·         RunTest

o   TestConfiguration

§ BeforeTestConfiguration

§ CoreTestConfiguration

·         ResolveTestFilesForEndToEndIteration

§ AfterTestConfiguration

§ AfterTest

o   GenerateDocumentation

o   PackageBinaries

·         DropBuild

o   BeforeDropBuild

o   CoreDropBuild (SkipDropBuild != true)

o   AfterDropBuild

·         AfterEndToEndIteration

DesktopBuild

This is the target execution sequence when you perform a Desktop Build. For more information on configuring and using a Destop Build, see this MSDN article.

·         Compile

o   BeforeCompile

o   CallCompile

§ CoreCompile

·         CompileConfiguration

o   BeforeCompileConfiguration

o   CoreCompileConfiguration

§ ComputeSolutionList

§ CompileSolution

·         BeforeCompileSolution

·         CoreCompileSolution

·         AfterCompileSolution

o   AfterCompileConfiguration

o   AfterCompile

·         Test

o   BeforeTest

o   CoreTest

§ RunTest

·         TestConfiguration

o   BeforeTestConfiguration

o   CoreTestConfiguration

o   AfterTestConfiguration

o   AfterTest

·         GenerateDocumentation

·         PackageBinaries

DesktopRebuild

Start a build using DesktopRebuild as the initial target to perform a clean, full compilation and run tests. For more information on how to build team projects on the desktop, see this MSDN article.

·         Clean

o   BeforeClean

o   CoreClean

·         CoreCleanAll (CleanCompilationOutput != true AND SkipClean != true)

·         CallClean (CleanCompilationOutput == true AND SkipClean != true)

o   CoreCleanCompilationOutput

§ ComputeConfigurationList

§ CleanConfiguration

·         BeforeCleanConfiguration

·         CoreCleanConfiguration

o   ComputeSolutionList

o   CleanSolution

·         AfterCleanConfiguration

o   AfterClean

·         DesktopRebuild (see previous section for details)

OnBuildBreak

If an error occurs during the compile phase, normal processing is suspended and the OnBuildBreak target is invoked. This target then invokes the following sequence of targets:

·         BeforeOnBuildBreak

·         CoreOnBuildBreak

o   GetChangesetsOnBuildBreak

§ BeforeGetChangesetsOnBuildBreak

§ CoreGetChangesetsOnBuildBreak (SkipGetChangesetsAndUpdateWorkItems != true)

§ AfterGetChangesetsOnBuildBreak

o   DropBuild

§ BeforeDropBuild

§ CoreDropBuild

§ AfterDropBuild

o   CreateWorkItem

§ BeforeCreateWorkItem

§ CoreCreateWorkItem (SkipWorkItemCreation != true)

§ AfterCreateWorkItem

·         AfterOnBuildBreak

Skip Properties

These properties are used to suppress the execution of certain targets in the build sequence. A complete list of customizable Team Foundation Build properties can be found in this MSDN article.

·         SkipClean

·         SkipDropBuild

·         SkipGet

·         SkipGetChangesetsAndUpdateWorkItems

·         SkipInitializeWorkspace

·         SkipInvalidConfigurations

·         SkipLabel

·         SkipPostBuild

·         SkipWorkItemCreation

Seattle Code Camp

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 12:47:12 GMT

Code Camp is a grass roots event organized by software developers for software developers. I’ve attended several code camps, presented at a few, and helped organize the Boise Code Camp. In all cases it was a worthwhile and rewarding experience. Chris Kinsman is spearheading the Seattle Code Camp 4.0 coming up November 15-16, 2008 at the DigiPen Institute in Redmond WA. I highly encourage you to attend this event, and maybe even give a presentation on whatever you’re passionate about.

For more informtion visit https://seattle.codecamp.us/

Using 64-bit Windows Server 2008 as a Workstation OS, Part 1

Richard Hundhausen — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 16:23:50 GMT

I just replaced Windows Vista Ultimate x64 on my laptop with the 64 bit version of Windows Server 2008. What prompted the change? Well, I was hoping to improve the lackluster performance of Vista. I would happily trade in the consumer goodies in Vista for better productivity. Unfortunately it seems to be an either/or proposition. But the most compelling reason for me was Hyper-V, the new virtual server from Microsoft. I do a lot of work with virtual machines, mostly to run a complete Visual Studio Team System environment in a sandbox for development and training purposes. Although Virtual PC 2007 is a good product, Hyper-V seemed to offer better performance and more flexibility with features like snapshots. Hyper-V also supports 64-bit guest operating systems, while Virtual PC 2007 can only run 32 bit OS’s.

After reading this article I was convinced that Windows Server 2008 with Hyper-V was the setup for me. So, I took the plunge. In the next blog post, I’ll go over the process of installing Windows Server 2008 as a workstation OS (also dubbed Windows “Workstation” 2008).

By the way, I run a Dell 830 laptop with an Intel Core Duo T7500 mobile CPU and 4GB RAM. If your workstation does not support hardware virtualization, then it won’t run Hyper-V. However, you can enjoy the benefits of Windows “Workstation” 2008 and still run your virts using Virtual PC 2007 SP1. Although Windows Server 2008 is not officially a supported host OS for Virtual PC, it seems to work just fine.

What does “Done” mean?

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 15:40:43 GMT

OK, let’s say you’re on a Scrum team that’s planning its next iteration. You pull a story to implement Feature X for the next release of Application Y. You review the specs, maybe have a conversation or two with the product owner to clarify a few details, and discuss implementation details with your team lead. Cool. Now, you design the feature, code it up, build it and tweak it until its working to your satisfaction.

Then you check it into the source control system and move on to the next feature. Done, right? Not necessarily so! Sure, you can stand in front of the users at Sprint Review and watch them salivate as you demonstrate Feature X in action. But, can they walk out of the review and begin using it right away? Most likely not. If not, is it really done?

“Code complete” is just one milestone on the yellow brick road to Emerald City, where users are happily whistling away while using your excellent Feature X in their Application Y. There is so much more to consider. What about unit testing? Integration testing? Acceptance testing? Documentation? Packaging? Deployment?

Getting an application successfully delivered involves much more than working code. Failure to take this into account, and considering “code complete” to mean the same thing as “done”, inevitably causes a development team to fall behind schedule as they scramble to deliver what was already considered done. This is a form of technical debt, a topic I’ll explore in a future post.

For more information on the meaning of “done”, check out this excellent podcast on HanselMinutes.com:

What is Done? – A Conversation with Scrum Co-Creater Ken Schwaber

DreamSpark

Thu, 03 Jul 2008 14:01:56 GMT

Back in the 80s (way back!) Apple got a toe-hold in the PC market in part by engineering a high presence in colleges and high schools. The theory was that if you get a young person started on an Apple computer then they will want to continue using Apple computers into their adult careers, if for no other reason than they already know how to use it. This strategy actually worked reasonably well.

Microsoft has always struggled with their presence in colleges and high schools. These institutions tend to favor the JLAMP stack (Java, Linux, Apache, MySql, PHP) over the Windows platform. What mind-share Microsoft has with students seems to tend toward the "evil empire" variety.

I'm pleased to see that Microsoft has finally made a bold move to improve their visibility in the college community. My son - a college student - pointed it out to me the other day. The program, launched last February, is called DreamSpark:

DreamSpark is simple, it's all about giving students Microsoft professional-level developer and design tools at no charge so you can chase your dreams and create the next big breakthrough in technology - or just get a head start on your career.

Looking at the list of software available for free through this program, it almost makes me want to enroll in a class or two at my local university!

For more information: https://downloads.channel8.msdn.com/

Two Types of Bugs

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 10:24:25 GMT

A bug is a bug is a bug, right? Not so!

Most development shops treat a bug as a task. That seems reasonable - it's a bit of work that needs to be done. Unfortunately, it's not so easy. If a bug is discovered in a feature that is currently under development, and it will be fixed in the current Sprint (iteration), then the bug can and should be treated as a task. It would be considered a new Sprint Backlog Item that must be closed before the feature can be considered "Done". However, if the bug is not fixed before the feature is considered "Done" (yes this really happens), or the bug is discovered after the feature has be deemed "Done", then the bug becomes a bit of work to be scheduled into a future Sprint. In other words, the bug should be treated as a Product Backlog Item.

The rule of thumb is rather easy really. If the bug is going to be fixed in the current iteration, then treat it as a task. If not, then the bug needs to go on the product backlog and be prioritized right along with all the other Product Backlog Items.

Of course, this raises the question: What does "Done" mean exactly? Many dev teams grapple with this deceptively simple question. I'll explore this question in a future post.

Electronic Scrum Boards

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 02:44:32 GMT

While at TechEd 2008 earlier this month I attended a presentation by Colin Bird where, among other things, he presented the next generation of the Conchango Scrum For Team System process template. According to Colin, Conchango will continue to offer a free version of their scrum process template. But, they will also be offering for the first time an "enterprise" version that they will sell for a yet-to-be-determined fee. This enterprise version will contain an exciting new feature: and Electronic Scrum Board. This WPF application simulates the cork board and index cards that many scrum teams use to track the progress of their sprint. Each row represents a Product Backlog Item (also called a User Story) that describes a specific feature to be implemented, while each card represents a Sprint Backlog Item that describes a specific task. The columns on the board represent the various states for a Sprint Backlog Item.

I took this shot while sitting next to David Starr in the presentation, who also took a snap with his camera phone.

When a card is dropped onto a row the board, it is automatically linked to the corresponding Product Backlog Item, and it's State is also updated automatically. This is sooo much more convenient that the current method of updating work items, and the board methaphor makes it much easier to visualize the overall status of the sprint.

I also happened to be part of the same lunchtime discussion of Electronic Scrum Boards with Jeffrey Palermo that David blogged about. I respect Jeffrey's opinion very much, as well as Dave's reaction to Jeffrey's comments. But my take on the topic is slightly different.

As I recall, Jeffrey was not thrilled about the Electronic Scrum Board because a physical cork board works just fine. The cork board is simple and easy to use. It's highly visible to the scrum team and its stakeholders. Why go to the trouble and expense of implementing an inferior solution?

I get it. But I also beg to differ. First, let's assume that an organization has decided to use Team System work item tracking because it offers rich reporting of current and historical data, as well end-to-end traceability resulting from linking work items to changesets to builds to build verification tests. Now, if a scrum is using both work item tracking as well as a cork board, then the same information if being maintained redundantly. This being the case, it's almost certain that the work items will be out of sync with the cork board some if not all of the time. With two conflicting views of project status, which one is authoritative? Which one do you believe?

Also, the cork board works great if the scrum team is co-located in one open space. Having all team members together in one location is ideal, but the reality is that a growing number of teams are geographically dispersed - sometimes in different parts of the world. For these teams, the cork board offers a poor solution.

Similarly, project stakeholders are often not in the same physical location as the cork board, making it difficult if not impossible for them to benefit from the information the cork board contains.

For these reasons, I believe that the Electronic Scrum board offers a superior solution. It not only shows current status, it also automatically maintains work item history. Analysis of this historical data can calibrate future estimates, enabling better sprint planning. Also, an Electronic Scrum Board offers a far more practical solution for teams that are not co-located.

Finally, I find it curious that scrum teams are in the business of creating automated solutions for others, but some of these same teams are loathe to give up their cork boards for an electronic version. Doesn't that seem just a bit ironic?

Problem downloading from Sharepoint to Vista

Sat, 26 Apr 2008 18:47:37 GMT

I recently ran into a problem with our new Windows SharePoint Services (WSS) 3.0 instance running on Windows Server 2008. I'm running Windows Vista x64 on my laptop, which has been working very well. But, when I tried to download a file from this new SharePoint site, the download started OK but then stopped almost immediately, as if the connection was lost.

I did some searching around the web and came across this post. As it turns out Windows Vista can negotiate the TCP packet size with Windows Server 2008 to optimize download speed. Apparently my router (A NetGear FVS318) is throwing a wrench in the works by blocking the SYN packets used to negotiate packet size. Result: no download!

Fortunately the fix is very easy once the problem has been identified. Just run a Command Prompt as Administrator, and paste this onto the command line:

netsh interface tcp set global autotuning=disabled

That did the trick for me! However, you may want to re-enable auto-tuning when connected to a router that handles SYN packets properly. To re-enable TCP auto-tuning, use this command:

netsh interface tcp set global autotuning=normal

To see the current TCP settings on your Windows Vista client, use this command:

netsh interface tcp show global

Rosario April CTP Available for Download

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 22:41:10 GMT

Now that Team Foundation Server 2008 is out, the Visual Studio Team System product team is totally focused on the next version, known as Rosario. If the current release rhythm continues, Rosario is likely to be released in 2010 (Visual Studio 2005 was released in November 2005, and Visual Studio 2008 was released in November 2007).

The latest version of Rosario is now available for public download on the Microsoft download site. This version is called the April Community Technology Preview (CTP). It's called a CTP because the product is still under development. The CTP gives the development community an opportunity to see what's been produced so far and provide feedback. It's not called a Beta because the bits have not been as thoroughly tested. For this reason, Microsoft recommends that this CTP release not be used for any sort of production development.

The product team has made impressive progress so far. Rich Hundhausen and I got a sneak preview of this CTP a few weeks ago, and what I saw blew my socks off! Whereas the new features in Team Foundation Server 2008 focused mainly on improvements to build and version control, the main areas of focus for Rosario are project management, design and test (Although I'm interested in all things Team System, I'm somewhat partial to project management).

This April CTP is the third CTP release for Rosario. To see the features included in each release, as well as a slick way to download the beast, check out these posts from Jeff Beehler:

Lightweight Scrum Process Template Updated

Wed, 26 Mar 2008 07:17:04 GMT

Mike Azocar, a fellow Team System MVP, reports:

We released LWS version 2.1 today. This version includes a new process guidance and SharePoint template as well as many work item enhancements. You can download it at
www.codeplex.com/vstsscrum

Mike also indicates that they will soon release a version that will work with the Project Server connector.

Teamprise 3.0 Ships

Wed, 19 Mar 2008 20:42:13 GMT

Martin Woodward has done his magic again! For those of you who don't know Martin, he is the primary developer of Teamprise, a fantastic suite of client applications that gives Java developers cross-platform access to Team Foundation Server from the command line, a stand-alone GUI or an Eclipse plug-in. In his blog, Martin announced the release of Teamprise 3.0, updated to take advantage of the new features in Team Foundation Server 2008. This release contains some many impressive new features including check-in policy support, recursive folder compare, single sign on support on windows clients, and gui support for version control undelete and destroy commands. Perhaps the most impressive new feature is the full Team Build integration and the brand new Teamprise Extensions for Team Foundation Build, which allows developers to use Ant scripts with Team Build - amazing! Even better, Teamprise Extensions for Team Foundation Build, including source code, is available free of charge to everyone.

For more information, see Martin's announcement.

Design for Operations

Mon, 17 Mar 2008 22:38:13 GMT

Have you ever had a production application in the data center act up, and you spend countless hours hunting down the source of the problem? If so, then then you might be interested in a new project on CodePlex called Design for Operations (DFO).

For years now engineers have been designing physical products with ease of manufacturing in mind. Called Design for Manufacturability (DFM), this technique takes fabrication and assembly into consideration early in the design process. DFM has a significant impact by improving the cost and quality of a product. Well, a variant of the technique has finally found its way to the world of software. Called Design for Operations, this technique allows software architects and developers to design their applications with built-in, real-time health monitoring, giving the operations staff much better operational information and improving the quality of service. According to William Loeffler, a Microsoft program manager:

It’s a recent effort from patterns & practices to provide tooling for architects and developers with a means to model their application in terms meaningful to operations. Once modeled the tool can be used to create a Health Model for the application and once the Health Model has been completed at the architect and development roles the tool can be used to generate platform instrumentation as defined in the model. All that’s necessary for the developer is to call the generated API within their solution for each instance of instrumentation. The tool will also generate a Management Pack for System Center OpsMgr 2008 from the model that matches the generated instrumentation.

For more information see:

http://www.codeplex.com/dfo

Hopefully DFO will become mainstream in the software development discipline, in the same way that unit testing has become popular.