Team Foundation Server (TFS)

Team Foundation Server (commonly abbreviated to TFS) is a Microsoft product which provides source code management (either via Team Foundation Version Control or Git), reporting, requirements management, project management (for both agile software development and waterfall teams), automated builds, lab management, testing and release management capabilities. It covers the entire Application Lifecycle Management.

TFS can be used as a back end to numerous integrated development environments but is designed to provide the most benefit by serving as the back end to Microsoft Visual Studio or Eclipse (on Windows and non-Windows platforms).

Visual Studio Team Foundation Server (TFS) is the collaboration platform at the core of Microsoft's application lifecycle management (ALM) solution.

TFS supports agile development practices, multiple IDEs and platforms locally or in the cloud and gives you the tools you need to effectively manage software development projects throughout the IT lifecycle.

Team Foundation Server is available in two different forms:

• Team Foundation Server (On-Premises): There are two basic installations available (and variations of each) which are the Basic Configuration and the Advanced Configuration. Basic Configuration allows TFS to run on a workstation or server, includes basic Windows SharePoint Service (if desired), can run on SQL Server Express or a full version of SQL Server and provides work item tracking, test case management, manual and automated testing, automated builds and source code management. This installation is appropriate for smaller teams and requires little to no overhead for the maintenance of TFS. The advanced installation option allows for all features of TFS. In this configuration TFS can be distributed across multiple servers for redundancy, plugged into Microsoft SharePoint 2010 or 2013, SQL Server Reporting Services and SQL Server Analysis Services. Other capabilities such as Lab Management and Release Management can be added to either type of installation.

• Team Foundation Service (On-Line): Team Foundation Service is a subset of a larger suite, that is called Visual Studio Online. The cloud service offers the most recent features compared to the On Premises version of TFS (and uses the same code with minor modifications) backed by Microsoft’s cloud platform, Windows Azure. For Visual Studio Online, there is no setup required, simply log in using Microsoft Account (previously called Windows Live Account) and develop. The main differences at this point between the cloud and on premises versions of TFS involve customization and extensibility. For example, in the on premises version, organizations can customize the process templates (see below for an explanation of process templates) but in the cloud they cannot. Or Lab Management can be plugged into the on premises version but there is no lab management for the cloud. Last, two components are not present on the Cloud-based version: SQL Reporting / BI and the Sharepoint.