Getting started with the TFS and Project Server Integration CTP

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Update April 20, 2011: The official RTM release of this integration is now available! You can read about it here. We have published a brand new virtual machine based on the RTM bits, and have retired the original CTP virtual machine. To get started with the new virtual machine visit my blog post. Last month the Team Foundation Server team released the first Community Technology Preview (CTP) showcasing integration between Project Server 2010 and Team Foundation Server 2010. This integration will enable the Project Management Office (PMO) to see a consolidated view of the progress and resource availability across all software development projects in Team Foundation Server 2010.  Software teams using Team Foundation Server 2010 can choose to manage their projects using a formal process or an agile process and flow their status and schedule updates into Project Server and Project Managers can preview changes as they flow in, track the work at a high-level and provide live updates to their stakeholders. Unfortunately, the CTP download is a whopping 26 files weighing in at over 20GB. The good news is that this is because everything is available in a pre-configured Hyper-V virtual machine (VM), so once you have the VM there’s not much left to configure to begin kicking the tires on this release and sending us feedback. But I’ve written the following instructions to make it easier for you to batch download all of the files required for this release.

Downloading the virtual machine and associated files:
I suggest using a download manager for these files since they are very large. My download manager of choice is Free Download Manager. You can use your own favorite download manager, but you may need to adapt the instructions below as appropriate.

  1. Download and install Free Download Manager. This utility provides:
    • Auto-resume support for interrupted downloads.
    • Multiple simultaneous download streams for (usually) a much faster download experience.
    • As the name implies, it's completely free.
  2. Select the appropriate URL’s depending on your preferred virtualization platform and copy (CTRL+C) them to your clipboard.
    ###Select This Section and Copy It (CTRL+C) - Do Not Include This Line###
    <obsolete>
    ###End - Do Not Include This Row In Your Selection###
  3. Launch the user interface for Free Download Manager (either from the Start Menu or via the system tray icon if FDM is already running).
  4. Click File -> Import -> Import List of URLs from Clipboard.
  5. When prompted for a download group, accept the default and click OK.
  6. You are now free to minimize Free Download Manager while the files download. By default, they will be saved to c:\downloads.

Once you download the release, follow the instructions on the download details page for extracting it, adding it within Hyper-V, and running the four walkthroughs which showcase the functionality enabled by this integration. The download details page will also refer you to the file called “Virtual Machine Setup Guide.docx” which is included in the list of files you downloaded above.