Review - Professional Git
I am asked at least twice in three months about a good book on Git.Despite the information available at https://git-scm.com/book is very comprehensive, there is...
Error 404 when uploading the SonarQube Analysis Report from the Build
That can be something hard to catch if you don’t know where to look! I spent some time on this issue – SonarQube’s End Analysis...
What to do with WMI errors and Team Foundation Server
Last week I spent some time on trying to sort out WMI errors in a test environment. That was not fun, but at the end...
Quickly share query results with the Web Access
If you really like the Copy Query URL button because it opens a full-screen page with no other link to TFS or VSTS...You would also...
“We don’t ship so often”: why? A reflection on Delivery hurdles.
The last Stack Overflow Developer Survey Results shows that the more a developer ships the happier (s)he is. Of course we see a huge amount of...
How can I monitor my AlwaysOn synchronisation status?
As a Team Foundation Server administrator it is critical to have knowledge of all the components involved by your deployment, and SQL Server is the...
Move TFS databases with no downtime, thanks to SQL Server AlwaysOn
If you follow this blog or my Twitter feed you should know I am a massive fan of SQL Server AlwaysOn.Recently I restored and moved...
Settle your team's disputes with an EditorConfig file
Ok, this is a bit too much :) but it is actually possible to settle some disputes on Visual Studio settings by leveraging on an...
The new connected marketplace experience: how to buy Package Management for TFS
It is not news that in a Hybrid DevOps stack you might have stuff on-premise and stuff in the cloud, Package Management is a prime...
Handle your NuGet packages’ qualities with Release Views
Are you building NuGet packages for your tools, utilities and libraries? Check.Are you using SemVer for versioning? Check.Then you might want an easy way of...
A note on TFSConfig OfflineDetach
I already mentioned the very useful TFSConfig OfflineDetach in the past. Today I used it once again, and I realised a very important information is...
PRs and ‘Unable to queue Build’ with VSTS
This should never happen, but if it does… Just go checking the PR settings to verify that there actually is a build linked!
Getting started with Delivery Plans in VSTS
Last week Microsoft released a very interesting extension for VSTS – Delivery Plans. It is still a very early preview, it will be associated with...
Do not forget: only leaves are shown on a board!
This is a classic question I get at least once a year, regardless of TFS, VSTS, versions, etc. I cannot see my Product Backlog Item...
Help! My PowerShell path in the prompt is gone!
If you follow my speeches you surely know I am a huge fan of posh-git, an extremely handy PowerShell module to display inline repository information....
Error AADSTS90093 with SonarQube and AAD, why?
It happens. And the reason here is extremely easy and straightforward: if you have any permission on your AAD application for SonarQube which you don’t...
Use the SonarQube Scanner with the new activity for the Team Build
As I mentioned the new SonarSource-maintained activity allows for the SonarQube scanner to be run independently of MSBuild – very useful for repositories containing only...
The new connected extension installation experience in TFS 2017
A few months ago I blogged about how the Marketplace takes advantage of the shared TFS and VSTS architecture to provide a good experience to...
What happened to the SonarQube extension?
If you run a SonarQube analysis in your pipeline you might have noticed this: It is actually the case – the SonarQube extension is being...
Review – Professional C# 6 and .NET Core 1.0
.NET Core brings so many changes, even if you don’t write production code on a daily basis you might want to have a refresh and...
Safely add tasks to an on-premise Build Agent from the vsts-tasks repository
In my last post I uploaded a task from the vsts-tasks GitHub repository to my on-premise Build Agent. How did I know it was going...
Start building ASP.NET Core 1.1 with TFS
In my spare time I am looking at ASP.NET Core – it brings so much change that you can’t really ignore it even if you...
.NET Core support in the new Team Build with VSTS
Technology on its own is not really helpful IMHO – having an ecosystem really helps. So I noticed that VSTS now supports .NET Core in...
Don’t just chuck your stuff in VSTS, take advantage of the artifact repository!
If I’d get a penny for any question on this activity I would be a billionaire by today: It is a waste of time not...
Track service usage data in VSTS
Every TFS admin knows about the Operational Intelligence page. It is a very important tool for managing Team Foundation Server, which provides lots of useful...
Easy Service Endpoints ACL management in VSTS
It is amazing how quickly VSTS changes and evolves – of course you need to keep up with it as well This is todays discovery...
A pipeline is not just as vertical fall! Triggers in Visual Studio Release Management
It is great to see people approaching the Pipeline model, but of course the more people adopt it the more we need to go deep...
Too long forgotten, the Activity field in TFS
Team Foundation Server is around since 2005, and many features seem to be forgotten despite being in the same place as usual. If I asked...
Removing Analysis Services references when moving a TFS deployment
When you need to stand up a testing environment, a DR situation or simply a new instance from existing backups you might want to forget...
A pragmatic look at why TFS and VSTS can be customised in a different way
If you paid attention to the latest releases of both TFS and VSTS you can see that the main path where they are diverging is...
Simplifying TFS restores with TFSConfig OfflineDetach
Before TFS 2015 Update 3, if you want to restore an instance you need to restore all the collection databases of the instance. This might...
SonarQube 6.0 and the StyleCop plugin
For one of our projects we use the StyleCop plugin for SonarQube during the analysis. As you can see it was recently deprecated. I successfully...
SonarQube analysis of Java code with VSTS
As we know, we can use VSTS to build Java code as well as .NET code thanks to the Maven instance provided by the service....
Package Management in TFS15 RC1
If there was a missing feature in TFS 2015, it was the lack of an integrated Package Management solution. Long are these days, the Package...
Metatasks in TFS 15 RC1
It isn’t really about TFS 15 RC1 this time, but now the UI is totally out for it so it is very prominent there is...
Easy HTTPS with TFS 15 RC1
There are a number of changes in TFS 15 RC1, and one I really like is the HTTPS configuration. When you configure the Application Tier...
Review – Professional Visual Studio 2015
This is a book I keep reviewing at every release, and for good reason: it is not mainly aimed at seasoned users of Visual Studio...
A first look at TFS 15: the new Build Agent
Another big change in TFS 15 Preview is the new Build Agent. This doesn’t mean there is yet another build server (the new Team Build...
A first look at TFS 15: pre-production upgrades
In the last post we saw how to install and configure TFS 15. What about upgrades? Well, there are some changes… Starting from the usual...
A first look at TFS 15: installation
Yesterday Microsoft released Team Foundation Server 15 Preview, and I could not resist installing it as soon as possible The installation process is the same:...
Small but noticeable: SSH Service in TFS 2015 Update 3
One of the features introduced in TFS 2015 Update 3 is the backport from VSTS of SSH access for Git repositories. There is a very...
A simple VSTS-based pipeline for Java Web Applications
I took the plunge last weekend about building a pipeline for a very simple Java application, and it was very, very easy to do so....
Moving a SonarQube installation to SQL Azure Database
There might be a tons of reasons behind it – you might want to take advantage of SonarQube’s support for SQL Azure Database, and it...
I updated SonarQube to 5.6 and nothing works any longer, should I panic?
SonarQube 5.6 is the new LTS release, hence there are lots of changes. The first step where you might panic is when you launch it...
Getting started with LaunchDarkly and client-side feature flags
These days it is extremely easy to start using Feature Flags, especially with a service like LaunchDarkly. In my case, I just wanted to setup...
Simple pipeline with UWP and HockeyApp
Everybody needs a starting point here and there, so this post would be pretty much about what I did with a very similar situation –...
Application Insights Live Metrics Stream with ASP.NET 5
The single feature I deeply loved from the old Visual Studio Online Application Insights (before it was handed over to the Azure Team) was the...
A look at the new Work Item Tracking features in VSTS
I usually don’t do this, but the VSTS teams are overhauling this area at such a pace that makes a knowledge refresh really needed Aside...
Considerations on HockeyApp and exception management strategy for apps
I started to look at HockeyApp recently, and I reckon it is quite an impressive piece of software. Microsoft acquired it in 2014, and now...
Getting started with Kusto a.k.a. Application Insights Analytics
Last week Brian told us about Kusto, an internal data analytics tools which then became a component of Application Insights. You can start using it...
On the potential of Bash on Windows in a DevOps world
One of the announcements of todays’ //build is the availability of Bash on Windows, thanks to Ubuntu. I share the excitement as well, but focus...
SCVMM extension for the new Team Build in action
I mentioned that a few times – I am a real enthusiast when it comes to certain topics, and Lab Management is one of these....
Advantages of a shared architecture: the TFS/VSTS example
A few months ago I wrote a throwback article for MSDN about VSTS, its journey from “TFS in the cloud” to a full-fledged service, and...
Why a TFS pre-release in production?
So, big question: why should I run a pre-release Team Foundation Server update in production? Isn’t it risky? And what about support in case things...
Using custom Quality Profiles with SonarQube and the new Team Build
When you analyse a project with SonarQube you are running the analyser with a predefined set of rules – they are the most commonly used...
Small but very valuable nuggets about Work Item Tracking in TFS and VSTS
Have you ever noticed this couple of small but very useful features in Team Foundation Server and Visual Studio Team Services? You can query across...
A new experience with Work Items deletion in VSTS
With Team Foundation Server you can either remove a Work Item by changing its state (leaving it on the backlog then, not really a removal)...
Help, the backlog is gone!
Just beware – if you are migrating stuff from a Team Foundation Server to Visual Studio Team Services, it might happen that despite correctly moving...
Where are TFS and VSTS heading?
This week Microsoft made published an update to the Team Foundation Server and Visual Studio Team Services roadmap, and it looks very promising. As we...
A cryptic story around Git, VSTS and Azure Active Directory
This is a short and easy tip with an interesting background. If you try to push stuff to a Git repository hosted in a VSTS...