Possibly the World's Smallest Team Foundation Server!!
Lol, well I couldn’t resist it, I scored a Via EPIA CN13000 Embedded Motherboard at the Oz MEDC, the boards are mini ITX form factor and run on the smell of an oily rag.
The motherboard draws 16 to 17 watts, a 2.5in drive draw 3 to 4 watts so all up the system draws approx 20 watts, it runs cool and near whisper quiet. If you ever wondered what happened to Cyrix x86 Technology then it found its way on to these boards.
So armed with a A$100 1Gig memory stick, a spare 2.5in drive and a nice small case I had all the pieces for the project. (I just loaded up from an external USB2 CD Drive)
Yes possibly a bit risqué for MSDN and with no expense spared here’s an “x rated” cheeky peek at the internals of possibly the world's smallest TFS system:)
Thought it would be fun/useful/portable to run the board as a Workgroup Team Foundation Server, so I loaded Windows Server 2003 SP1, SQL 2005, Sharepoint, some hotfixes and Team Foundation Server .
I have to say that I’m delighted with the system performance and stability, it’s been running now for a couple of weeks without any issues. Yup most of the time it’s not doing a lot (and I didn’t install the build server), but when it does, it does it quickly and I’m developing one of those dependency disorder thingmes for TFS Source ControlJ
Lol, and yeah I couldn’t resist loading up the June CTP of .NET Framework V3 and the system was processing 3000 - 4000 WCF messages per second over TCP. It also makes for a nice FTP and IIS Server, not bad for a system that draws around 20 watts when active.
Couple of things I picked along the way
1) Wanted to reference the source control, reports, work items etc via an external URL so I could access from home, work, hotels, conferences etc – so I needed to register the address in TFS – check out https://ognjenbajic.com/blog/doc/vsts/enabling%20team%20foundation%20system%20ssl.htm#_Toc126043467, actually I’ve not set up SSL yet, so the Sharepoint admin still runs on port 17012 but you’ll see the XML doc you’ll need to configure and the command to run (don’t forget to reboot after)
2) Did hit an authentication problem and spotted the resolution on Rob Caron’s blog at https://blogs.msdn.com/robcaron/archive/2005/10/07/478336.aspx
3) I didn’t set up alerts and I did get a pesty error message in the logs saying invalid “From” address – spotted the fix at https://blogs.vertigosoftware.com/teamsystem/archive/2006/07/11/Changing_SMTP_settings_on_Team_Foundation_Server.aspx
Anyway, just shows what you can run on such a small system and TFS rocks!!
So go on, Fill Ya Boots Man and give it a whirl:)
Cheers, Dave
Ps, click on the "Fill Ya Boots Man" link, Becky and the Demolition Man is one of the funniest things on the web at the moment. Thanks Mike!!
Comments
Anonymous
August 06, 2006
I've wanted to build a Mini ITX computer for a long time 'cause it looks like a lot of fun. Dave...Anonymous
August 06, 2006
The comment has been removedAnonymous
August 06, 2006
This looks great, putting an embedded board to good use :)
It would be great for a meadia centre that is for sure.Anonymous
August 06, 2006
The comment has been removedAnonymous
August 06, 2006
Well the name says it all. We can now go ahead and toss those dual core, dual proc behemoths and replace...Anonymous
August 06, 2006
Well, today is WWDC keynote day. So, here are some links to tide you over till keynode hour (5pm GMT)....Anonymous
August 09, 2006
PingBack from http://mdavey.wordpress.com/2006/08/09/wcf-and-wpf/Anonymous
August 10, 2006
Hey Matt of http://mdavey.wordpress.com/2006/08/09/wcf-and-wpf/ fame, this was not intended to be a benchmark or any projection of perf, just a bit of fun to see what the system was capable of processing.
The messages I send over TCP are attributed oneway WCF messages to the service, about 40 bytes payload, no security on messages or transport, just going over my home networking kit, through a couple of 100Mbps switches etc, nothing special and very little network load. The client was running on my laptop.
I dont do anything to the messages other than write to console. Actually the writing to the console was the main gating factor, if you minimise the console service app then it really takes off.
The demo is just the code I posted at http://blogs.msdn.com/dglover/archive/2006/08/07/690411.aspx and I just ran the debug version on the server.
Cheers DaveAnonymous
August 14, 2006
I was presenting on Service Oriented Architecture today to a group of developers from a large Australian...Anonymous
August 24, 2006
Martin Woodward displays his miniature TFS Proxy (and some impresive download speeds), and Dave...Anonymous
August 30, 2006
Eric Lee, Product Manager for Team Foundation Server, has been in town for a couple of days after TechEd....Anonymous
November 20, 2006
The comment has been removedAnonymous
December 13, 2006
For whatever reason InfoPath 2007 and Office Forms Server 2007 didn't hit my radar till recently andAnonymous
December 17, 2006
Well SP1 for Team Foundation Server is out and so thought time to upgrade " Possibly the World's SmallestAnonymous
December 17, 2006
I was just chatting with Dave Glover and he mentioned he had just finished upgrading our Team TFS ServerAnonymous
January 12, 2007
I'm not sure if size matters, but if it does, Martin's laying claim to the World's Smallest TFS as comparedAnonymous
January 15, 2007
Dave Glover has held onto the title of world's smallest Team Foundation Server instance since August 2006. However, I have a confession to make. On Tuesday I was doing an MSDN webcast demonstrating the Teamprise plug-in. We have a bunch...Anonymous
January 21, 2008
PingBack from http://msdnrss.thecoderblogs.com/2008/01/22/want-to-stay-connected-to-the-aussie-dpe-team/Anonymous
January 24, 2008
PingBack from http://msdnrss.thecoderblogs.com/2008/01/24/aussie-blog-updates/