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Connection errors when migrating from Visual SourceSafe (VSS) to Team Foundation Server (TFS) using VSSConverter (Error TF31002)

Feb 11

Posted by Anil Desai in Development, IT Tips | No Comments

If you haven’t yet heard, the Release Candidate (RC) version of Visual Studio 2010 is now available to MSDN Subscribers. Personally, I was waiting for this release to move my primary development environment over to the new version. Overall, the installation and setup process was easy enough on two of my development machines. The biggest problems I ran into were related to migrating my dozen or so development projects from Visual SourceSafe to Team Foundation Server. I know I’m a bit behind the curve, but I’m an independent developer, and I was actually happy enough with VSS.

Using VSSConverter

The VSSConverter.exe utility is Microsoft’s command-line tool for migrating Visual SourceSafe repositories to Team Foundation Server. The utility includes analyze and migrate modes and is driven by XML-based configuration files. The process was simple enough and is documented in the following MSDN articles:

Migration Errors

The basic process went well until I got to the step of actually performing the migration. That’s when I encountered the following dreaded TF31002 error:

I checked my server name, port, and other settings numerous times but still couldn’t get it to work. Web searches provided some basic troubleshooting information, but nothing relevant to my issue. All diagnostics that I ran (including the Best Practices Analyzer from the Team Foundation Server Power Tools) reported that everything was OK.

The Solution…

I finally stumbled upon the solution in an old bug reported via Microsoft Connect. The defect report is titled VSSConverter cannot connect to the Team Foundation Server and offers the following problem description and solution:

When trying to migrate a Source Safe database to TFS2010 the VSSConverter tool exits with the following error:
TF60070: Unable to connect to the Team Foundation Server: ‘http://ts01:8080/’. Please ensure that the Team Foundation Server exists and try again.
The Team Foundation Server exists but at http://ts01:8080/tfs (default installation) The VSSConverter tool is unable to access this location.

UPDATE!
There is a new configuration option in the TeamFoundationServer element to specify the collection to which the sourcesafe database should be merged. It’s nowhere to be found in the documentation yet.
The solution is to add collection="tfs/DefaultCollection" to the TeamFoundationServer to specify which collection should be used.

After adding the “collection=” attribute, the migration worked flawlessly. It took about an hour to transfer all of my code and versions, but everything looks good now. The migration process could be simpler, but (if I’m lucky), I’ll only have to do this once. I hope this helps some of you that might have run into the same problem.

Live Webcast: Data Center Cost-Efficiency, Security and Compliance

Feb 2

Posted by Anil Desai in Management, Presentations, Systems Admin, Webcasts | No Comments

IT operations groups and datacenter managers are always searching for new ways to reduce costs while still meeting security, configuration, and compliance requirements. Fortunately, there are numerous methods by which organizations can achieve these goals. On February 25th, I’ll be presenting a free, live webcast on the topic of The 2010 Data Center: Driving Cost-Efficiency, Security and Compliance. Here’s an overview of the topic from the webcast’s web site:

Thursday, February 25, 2010
10AM PST / 1PM EST

With the new decade comes new opportunity to implement the best technologies and practices for IT. Join this FREE live webinar to learn how to cost-effectively plan, implement and manage a 21st century data center to drive greater efficiency, security and compliance.

You’ll hear from leading experts about ways organizations are leveraging technologies such as virtualization and configuration management to build flexible, resilient, cost-efficient and high-performing data centers for 2010.

Join now to:

• Get a blueprint to plan and implement IT best practices to modernize, consolidate, and secure your technology environment
• Hear how to cost-effectively drive improved security and compliance across your IT infrastructure while staying agile and competitive
• Learn about the benefits of a combined solution for configuration assessment with configuration change auditing for improved data center operations

The presentation is arranged by Focus.com and is sponsored by TripWire. I’ll begin the presentation with an overview of technical best practices. Then, Barak Engel from EAmmune will provide specific information on products, technologies, and approaches you can use to achieve these goals. We’ll wrap up by taking live questions from the audience. The entire webcast should last under an hour.

Microsoft Office Labs’ Ribbon Hero

Jan 23

Posted by Anil Desai in Fun Stuff, IT Tips, Microsoft Office | No Comments

Perhaps one of the most challenging issues with complex applications is in teaching users to take advantage of their many features. Modern software like the Microsoft Office suite provide an overwhelming number of options and features that can be used to make work easier. However, the most requested “new” features that are received by the Microsoft Office development team are already in the product. Yes, they’ve likely been there for a long time, but users just haven’t found them.

In many of the apps I’ve written, users are often unaware of keyboard shortcuts, simpler ways to move between fields in web/Windows forms, and efficient methods for entering data. I often cringe when I see people spend hours trying to manually perform tasks that are easily automated using application features. Still, many application users will go to great lengths to avoid having to learn anything new (even if it will pay off in the long run). But what about those who actually want to learn how to best use specific pieces of software?

Enter The Microsoft Office Labs Ribbon Hero. Here’s a brief description of how it works:

Ribbon Hero is a game for Word, PowerPoint, and Excel 2007 and 2010, designed to help you boost your Office skills and knowledge. Play games (aka "challenges"), score points, and compete with your friends while improving your productivity with Office. As a concept test, this add-in is not supported, but is an opportunity for you to try out an idea we are working on and let us know what you think. For additional challenges and the opportunity to earn more points, download Office 2010 Beta.

The idea is somewhat unconventional, but this demo video provides a great example of how you can use it to make yourself a better Microsoft Office user.

While learning is often its own reward, the game also allows you to automatically share and compare your score with others using Facebook. Here’s a screenshot from within Microsoft Word.

Of course it’s unsupported code. So, don’t plan to open up a Severity 1 case with Microsoft Product Support Services if you think you didn’t get all the points you deserve.

Overall, I think the Ribbon Hero project is a fun and useful way to stretch users’ abilities with one of the world’s most popular productivity suites. I’m planning to rack up a pretty high score. Who’s up the challenge?

Network of Indian Professionals (NetIP) – Austin

Jan 8

Posted by Anil Desai in General | No Comments

I’ve been elected to be Technology Director for the NetIP Austin Chapter. NetIP is a national non-profit organization with chapters in numerous cities in the United States. Here’s a brief excerpt of the organization’s mission:

The purpose of NetIP is to serve as an organization that meets the needs of South Asian professionals in North America as they grow in their personal and professional lives. Over the years, NetIP has become a premier networking brand in our community. It has become the unequivocal voice for an emerging group of South Asians, who excel in every aspect of western society, from business to politics to the arts. The rise of NetIP and its affiliated chapters reflects a general "Coming of Age" by South Asian professionals. We are proud to state that many of our present members and past alumni now hold respected positions of leadership in the private, public, and non-profit sectors all over the world.

You can find more details about NetIP’s purpose and mission at the NetIP North America web site.

NetIP Austin

If you’re an Indian or South Asian professional in the Austin area (or you’re thinking of visiting or moving here), please do check out the NetIP Austin web site. We have many fun and engaging events planned for 2010. They’re organized into four main pillars:

Professional Development
Cultural Awareness
Community Service
Political Awareness

In addition, we have general social events like a monthly happy hour. Complete details are available on our Events page with more details coming very soon.

Technology Platform

OK, on to technology: NetIP has standardized on the use of the Joomla! platform for all chapters’ web sites. So far, I have mixed feelings about the Joomla! Content Management System (CMS). It seems to be stable and well-designed, overall. However, the organization concepts of articles, categories, and sections seems difficult to apply in some cases. For now, the site has been built with completely static navigation, which makes it really difficult to manage content. I’m working on changing this, but it seems to involve more work than it should. Hopefully, I’ll be able to provide an update on my impressions of Joomla soon. In the meantime, I’d be happy to hear about others’ experiences with the platform.

Windows Server 2008 R2 Poster

Dec 17

Posted by Anil Desai in General, IT Tips, Systems Admin, Windows Server | 1 Comment

IT people tend to be known for a lot of things (both good and bad), but the classic geeky poster seems to be a mainstay for most technical professionals. Among block diagrams, Dilbert comics that take thinly-veiled shots at clueless management, and software architecture posters, it seems like there’s something for everyone.

Of course, posters can actually be informational and useful. Microsoft has recently made a Windows Server 2008 R2 Feature Components Poster available for free download. While it would be difficult to print this out (it’s roughly 44” x 24” in full size), it provides a really clear, concise overview of the new features in Windows Server 2008 R2. The list of sections includes:

Active Directory Domain Services
Hyper-V
File Services
Remote Desktop Services
BranchCache
DirectAccess

The content helps illustrate that the R2 release isn’t just a minor upgrade – there’s probably a lot more in here than most administrators are aware of.

You’ll also find a sidebar of acronyms and plenty of useful notes and tips. While it’s no replacement for complete documentation, I think these posters do a great job of providing a lot of information in a limited space.

Webcast: “Understanding and Managing VM Sprawl”

Dec 1

Posted by Anil Desai in Best Practices, Management, Policies, Presentations, Security, Virtualization, Webcasts | No Comments

The idea of virtual machine “sprawl” – the rapid proliferation of VMs without adequate IT oversight or management – seems to be a popular one. I have written and spoken on this topic before, but there have been enough changes in the tools and implementation methods for server virtualization to merit an updated presentation. That’s the topic of a recent webcast that I recorded for TechTarget’s SearchCIO.com site.

The webcast is titled “Understanding and Managing VM Sprawl”. An archived version is available for viewing at no cost (though registration is required). Here’s a brief abstract of the topic:

Virtualization can help address many of IT’s biggest headaches, but it can also lead to a problem known as "VM sprawl" – the rapid proliferation of VMs without sufficient IT oversight. The result is an environment that doesn’t meet security or administration requirements, putting applications, services, and data at risk.

This webcast will provide an overview of VM sprawl – its root causes and related issues, along with ways to mitigate the main issues. Specifically, it will provide best practices for managing the entire virtual machine life cycle (from deployment to retirement) and details related to tracking VMs in the environment. The webcast will then describe how automated virtualization management solutions can help provide all of the benefits of virtualization with minimum administrative overhead.

The content is targeted towards IT managers and higher-level IT people. It focuses on virtualization management strategies, though there’s a good amount of technical depth. The presentation is roughly 45 minutes in length. I hope you find it useful, and feel free to post questions or comments here.

.NET Developer Stories

Nov 30

Posted by Anil Desai in Databases / SQL Server, Development | 1 Comment

Perhaps one of the best and most enjoyable ways to learn about technology is through examples of how it’s being applied. Many organizations offer case studies and other details of their implementations in an effort to help others that can benefit from the knowledge. However, it’s often difficult to find real-world, developer-focused content. Much of the information has had many layers of overly enthusiastic marketing-ese applied, and the technical details get buried under photos of attractive, happy-looking business people from stock clip art.

To help provide some concrete examples (and recognition) related to .NET development, Microsoft has created it’s .NET Stories web site. This site allows developers to post some details related to their own projects and the application of technologies such as:

.NET Framework and Visual Studio
Windows Server
SQL Server
SharePoint Server
Windows 7
Windows Azure

You can submit your own projects use the My .NET Story web site. I’m looking forward to reviewing the submissions for ideas (and I might possibly submit one of my own applications for review). Oh, and did I mention that the site offers numerous prizes, including a Smart Car and a 12-day trip to the Galapagos Islands? It’s not often that developers get recognition, so I hope a lot of us can take advantage of the information collected on this site.

Office 2010 Beta Now Available to MSDN / TechNet Subscribers

Nov 16

Posted by Anil Desai in Development, General, Microsoft Office | 1 Comment

While I spend a lot of time writing and speaking about enterprise technology (such as server virtualization), like most techies, I do it using Microsoft Office. I’m a big fan of Microsoft Office 2007, and I’m always eager to try new beta version of the product suite. Thanks to the MSDN Subscriber Download’s RSS feed, I found out that the official first beta of Office 2010 is now available for download. If you have a subscription, you can access the downloads from the following sites:

Just search for “Office 2010”, and you should see the relevant downloads. Be sure to generate keys for activation of the beta, as well. I’m not sure about the exact plans for making the downloads available publicly, but Microsoft will hopefully make the beta easily accessible to a wide range of potential testers later this week.

For more information on what’s new, see the official Microsoft Office 2010 product site. As far as at the client applications themselves, the changes seem to be largely incremental (all apps now have the Ribbon UI). I’m pondering upgrading my primary computer to the newest beta and will likely post some more details here if I do. Particularly, I’ll focus on backwards-compatibility and file format upgrade issues (such as upgrading my Outlook PST files to work with Outlook 2010). Happy downloading!

Virtual Event: Next-Generation Networks

Nov 11

Posted by Anil Desai in Management, Networking, Presentations, Virtualization, Webcasts | No Comments

Network Computing is hosting an online, virtual event that focuses on next-generation networking technologies. Here’s a brief blurb from the event web site:

This Next Generation Networks virtual event will bring you up to speed on networking state of the art by discussing the technologies that are going to drive network design and implementations today and in the future. You will learn from peers, analysts, and vendors about where the technologies are today and how you can prepare for a network overhaul.
Attendee Benefits:

Download informative research, white papers, and other resources straight to your Virtual Briefcase.

Access insightful webcasts featuring industry experts, Network Computing editors, and analysts.

Interact with our guest speakers, other attendees, and exhibitors through real-time chat tools.

Visit vendor booths and browse through products and solutions in our unique, interactive and entertaining environment.

Use the Event Registration page to sign up to attend. In addition to the virtual conference booths, you can view a list of presentations on the Distinguished Speakers page. I’ll be attending and will try to answer as many technical questions as possible in the Microsoft booth.

Microsoft Virtual Event: The New Efficiency

Oct 23

Posted by Anil Desai in Best Practices, Presentations, Virtualization, Webcasts, Windows 7, Windows Server | No Comments

If you’ve been following some of the latest keynotes and presentations from Microsoft, you’ve probably run into the theme of “The New Efficiency”. Microsoft has been using this term to describe the benefits of Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2 and Exchange Server 2010. While listening to presentations can be useful, it’s also valuable to spend some interactive time with other technical professionals and experts. To that end, Microsoft is hosting another live “Virtual Conference” on October 27, 2009. Visit the Event Overview page to see details of the virtual conference. Here’s an excerpt that describes what’s covered and who will be presenting:

Join renowned Microsoft technologies expert Paul Thurrott, Windows IT Pro senior technical director Michael Otey, Exchange guru Paul Robichaux, and Windows IT Pro editor in chief Jeff James for an in-depth, spin-free deep dive into the new efficiency.
In just three hours, directly from your own computer, the keynote and three technical sessions will provide you with:

an overview of everything that Windows® 7 has to offer

a deep-dive into enterprise-oriented features such as AppLocker, Branche Cache, DirectAccess, federated search, and BitLocker to Go

a complete coverage of all of the new features and functionality brought by Windows® Server 2008 R2, including Hyper-V virtualization with live migration and PowerShell 2.0

an in-depth presentation of the rich user experience, the many deployment options, and information protection and control capabilities offered by Microsoft® Exchange Server 2010

a clear understanding of the ways Windows® 7, Windows® Server 2008 R2, and Microsoft® Exchange Server 2010 work better together

This event is presented in an interactive, real-life simulation! You will experience a lifelike visual environment, networking and interactive tools, staffed sponsor booths, and educational chats to complement each conference session.

I’ll be available to answer technical questions in the Microsoft booth during the morning sessions (from 9:30am to around noon Central time). Feel free to stop by and ask questions or view the materials and presentations that are available online.

For more details, see the Agenda and Speaker Info pages. Be sure to Register – it’s free, and you don’t have to leave the comfort of your home or office to attend.

Visual Studio 2010 Beta 2 Available for Download

Oct 19

Posted by Anil Desai in Databases / SQL Server, Development, General | No Comments

Microsoft’s Visual Studio 2010 development environment is a complete overhaul of the popular IDE. It will continue to support all current Microsoft development languages and technologies, but it also features a completely revamped UI that’s based on Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF). If you have an MSDN or Microsoft TechNet subscription, you can download the files now. The available editions include:

Visual Studio 2010 Professional
Visual Studio 2010 Premium
Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate
Visual Studio 2010 Team Foundation Server

You can also find a number of “Additional Resources”, including web installer packages and tools for testing and team-based development. More information is available on the Visual Studio 2010 Product Information Site (note that, as of this writing, the site still provides links to the Beta 1 version of VS 2010).

Mary-Jo Foley at ZDNet’s Microsoft Watch provides some more details in Testers to get Visual Studio 2010 Beta 2 this week; final by March 2010. It looks like the plan is to open up the beta to all testers later this week. The article also provides some basic details about the various editions, their estimated prices, and how you can get hold of them upon release.

The first official beta version of VS 2010 came out in May, so it has been a refresh is very welcome. I have done some informal testing of the first beta and it seems to be fairly stable overall. That version was clearly nowhere near the polish that the release version should have, but it was certainly usable and provided some exciting new features (I’ll cover the highlights in an upcoming post).

Currently, it looks like the final version will be available in Q1, 2009 (based on reports from ZDNet and other bloggers). Let’s hope that it provides all the improvements and new features we’ve been waiting for!

Can your computer run Windows 7?

Oct 18

Posted by Anil Desai in IT Tips, Systems Admin, Windows 7 | No Comments

With the official consumer release of Windows 7 just a few days away, a lot of people are probably wondering whether their computers will be able to run Microsoft’s newest OS. Potential issues include device drivers, hardware, software, and user settings. The free Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor Beta can help you answer these questions quickly an easily. The process couldn’t be much easier: Just install and run the Upgrade Advisor (it runs on Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7). The utility will take a few minutes to run and will then return a report like the one below (assuming you’re running a fairly current desktop or notebook computer).

You can also view a list of system requirements and your current specifications:

For the most part, users shouldn’t have much trouble when upgrading to Windows 7. The magnitude of under-the-hood architectural changes is much less than it was during the leap from Windows XP to Windows Vista. And, third-party hardware and software vendors have finally caught up (for the most part) and are providing reliable drivers.

From my experience, Windows 7 seems to run about as fast as Windows XP (which means it’s much faster than Windows Vista). I have upgraded numerous desktops and notebooks to Windows 7 without any problems that I couldn’t quickly and easily resolve. I think it will be a worthy upgrade for most users, and the Upgrade Advisor should be able to provide some warnings related to potential problems before you take the plunge.

Convert Physical Hard Disks to VHDs using Disk2VHD

Oct 8

Posted by Anil Desai in Systems Admin, Virtualization | 2 Comments

There are numerous free and commercial physical-to-virtual (P2V) conversion tools on the market, but often they require some setup or at least a minimal initial investment. Sometimes, all you want to do is make a copy of a physical disk and then attach it to a virtual machine. The Disk2Vhd utility is a simple program for doing just that. Here’s the info from the TechNet site:

Disk2vhd is a utility that creates VHD (Virtual Hard Disk – Microsoft’s Virtual Machine disk format) versions of physical disks for use in Microsoft Virtual PC or Microsoft Hyper-V virtual machines (VMs). The difference between Disk2vhd and other physical-to-virtual tools is that you can run Disk2vhd on a system that’s online. Disk2vhd uses Windows’ Volume Snapshot capability, introduced in Windows XP, to create consistent point-in-time snapshots of the volumes you want to include in a conversion. You can even have Disk2vhd create the VHDs on local volumes, even ones being converted (though performance is better when the VHD is on a disk different than ones being converted).

You can download Disk2Vhd directly from the Microsoft TechNet SysInternals site (it’s only 704KB). You can then run it directly from your file system to launch the GUI.

While it’s easy to create a VHD, it’s important to keep in mind potential issues with using this approach to “clone” an already-running machine. Depending on your environment, you might need to consider the impacts of network addresses, MAC addresses, computer names and Security Identifiers (SIDs). Most of this only applies if you’re using this approach to clone a non-OS hard disk. Overall, the utility makes it really simple to perform a P2V conversion of a hard disk.

Virtual Event: The Business Case for Windows 7

Sep 29

Posted by Anil Desai in Presentations, Webcasts, Windows 7 | No Comments

If you haven’t had a chance to work with Windows 7 yet, or if you’re wondering what’s in it for business users and administrators, you’ll probably benefit from attending an upcoming virtual conference. The “conference” will take place entirely online. Using a browser, you can access a pretty slick online UI that allows you to do “real” conference stuff.

The InformationWeek Business Technology Network is presenting a virtual event titled The Business Case for Windows 7. As the name implies, it focuses on ways in which corporate users and administrators can benefit from switching to Microsoft’s newest OS (which is scheduled for general availability on October 23rd). Here’s a description of the conference from the event’s web page:

The Business Case for Windows 7
Microsoft’s launch of the Windows 7 operating system is one of the most anticipated technology introductions of this year, and enterprises both large and small are evaluating the benefits – and weighing the challenges – of migrating to the new platform. In this virtual event, attendees will have the opportunity to engage with and learn from the developers of Win 7, the testers who put it through its paces, and peers who are considering taking the plunge. Experts will discuss the product’s features, performance issues, security and management processes, compatibility concerns, and more.

You can sign up to attend the virtual conference using the Registration Page.

At the virtual conference, you can talk to people at virtual booths, ask questions to technical experts who are available live, and download videos, webcasts, white papers, etc. Microsoft, Thawte, and Global Knowledge are among the sponsors. I’ll be present tomorrow (Sept. 30th) to answer questions in the Microsoft booth. The virtual conference will go on for two days and contains numerous events and keynote presentations. Be sure to stop by – it certainly beats the time, cost, and frustration of having to travel to real conferences.

Application Virtualization for Servers: Enabling Cloud Computing

Sep 1

Posted by Anil Desai in Articles, Virtualization | No Comments

To me, one of the more interesting aspects of virtualization (as a generic term) is the many different ways in which technical layers of abstraction can be combined. The short list of technologies generally includes the following types of virtualization:

Sessions / Presentation
Server
Application
Desktop
Network
Storage

While these areas all differ widely from the standpoint of technical implementation, they all share the common goal of abstracting the physical implementation of a service layer from its technical components. One case in point is the use of application virtualization on the server side. My recent SearchServerVirtualization.com article, The benefits of application virtualization for servers and clouds provides some details on how this technology can be used to enable cloud computing. From the article’s introduction:

Some combinations — such as peanut butter and chocolate — just go together. Similarly, with myriad virtualization options, several methods can work well together.

Virtualization has proven effective in addressing many of the challenges of data center management. But organizations that have invested in virtualization often encounter new and different problems. This tip discusses using application virtualization for server-based virtualization, the problems application virtualization attempts to solve and how this virtualization approach can improve virtualization administration and the management of data center resources.

The article is available for free online (registration is required).