VSS to Fortress potential buyer...

[robains]

I work for a small software company 2-3 developers. We're having many issues with VSS 2005 and VS 2008 SP1 and I'm looking for alternatives. I have a few questions:

1. Not clear on licensing, does $599 + $120 subscription permit one server install with as many client installs as we like?
2. How well does Fortress work with VS 2008 SP1 (in terms on integrationg within the VS 2008 IDE) and specifically with VB.NET?
3. Does Fortress work with SQL 2008 Std as my repository?
4. Our developers often work offsite either with a laptop or another computer, how well does fortress manage "changing" connections to source repository? i.e. able to retain local SQL access vs. remote SQL access to our single repository ?

Sorry for all the questions, but we're done with VSS 2005 and need a simple, fast, and flexible source control solution as soon as possible.

Thanks, Rob.
Director of Development

[lbauer]

1. Not clear on licensing, does $599 + $120 subscription permit one server install with as many client installs as we like?

$599 is the base price of one Fortress license for one user. The $120 maintenance gets you free upgrades for a year. A licensed user can connect from multiple client machines. If you have five users, you would need five licenses. There are quantity discounts.

2. How well does Fortress work with VS 2008 SP1 (in terms on integrationg within the VS 2008 IDE) and specifically with VB.NET?

It works well. It's fully supported.

3. Does Fortress work with SQL 2008 Std as my repository?

Yes, you can store your Vault database in SQL Server 2008.

4. Our developers often work offsite either with a laptop or another computer, how well does fortress manage "changing" connections to source repository? i.e. able to retain local SQL access vs. remote SQL access to our single repository ?

The Vault client itself does not connect directly to the database. It connects to the Vault server which then connects to the SQL database. So if your Vault server connection information remains the same, you can easily connect from any machine anywhere.

If you are using Visual Studio and have projects bound to a particular Vault server name, you
may need to rebind or work off-line if the server URL changes due to Nat or some other network configuration for remote connections vs local connections.

[robains]

Thank you for the response. Could you clarify of a few points:

1. The Vault Server -- what's involved in installation and what ports will need to be open?
2. Is it easier to migrate a VSS 2005 database to Vault Server, or just start with NEW Vault server database?
3. How does one disconnect from VSS 2005 database to start using Vault Server database? Handle in VS 2008 or via Vault Client?

Rob.

[lbauer]

1. The Vault Server -- what's involved in installation and what ports will need to be open?
2. Is it easier to migrate a VSS 2005 database to Vault Server, or just start with NEW Vault server database?
3. How does one disconnect from VSS 2005 database to start using Vault Server database? Handle in VS 2008 or via Vault Client?

1. Make sure your system meets system requirements:
http://www.sourcegear.com/vault/sysreq.html

Then just run the Server installer.

2. It's easy to start fresh, but you wouldn't have your history or shared files.

There's a full import tool, which brings in everything from VSS, but can take a long time and is sometimes incomplete.

Vault 5.0 has a streamlined import tool, called Handoff. It brings just the latest version of VSS files into the repository and maintains a connection to VSS. Benefits of Handoff:

-It's faster. Handoffs can be completed in hours, where full imports can take days.

-It's less susceptible to VSS corruption. Since Handoff only gets the latest versions of VSS files, it will be able to complete in situations where historical corruption prevents the full import from succeeding.

-It's more faithful. Since VSS does not version folders, the full import must sometimes "fake" folder history and labels. Handoff keeps label and folder history operations in VSS.

-It's easier to try. With Handoff, if there are changes in VSS after the Handoff was performed, you can easily diff the VSS version against your Vault version. The full import is a one-time process.

The VSS Handoff is built into the Vault Admin Web Client.

You can get the full Import tool here:
http://download.sourcegear.com/Fortress/latest/

For tips on using this tool see these KB articles:
http://support.sourcegear.com/viewtopic.php?t=7
http://support.sourcegear.com/viewtopic.php?t=6949

3. Once your files are in Vault, you connect to Vault to Get, Checkout, etc. If your Visual Studio solutions are bound to VSS, you can use the Rebind Projects feature in the Vault Admin Web Client or manually unbind/rebind the projects to Vault.