TFS 2010 Upgrade to TFS 2013 - Can Window Server 2019 Standard Support the Upgrade?

Question

We are looking to carry out the following TFS upgrades in our Production environment:

1. Upgrade TFS 2010 to TFS 2013.5
2. Upgrade TFS 2013.5 to TFS 2019

To support both migrations, we have a Windows Server 2019 Standard edition to host the Application Tier. The Data Tier is to be installed on a dedicated SQL box.

The Microsoft website however lists Windows Server 2012 (Essentials, Standard, Datacenter) as the latest server operating system edition required for TFS 2013.

My question therefore is, can we still perform this planned upgrade to TFS 2013 on a newer edition of Windows Server, in our case Windows Server 2019 Standard edition?

Answer 1

I agree with Daniel, please follow the documentation exactly.

Since you can upgrade from TFS 2010 --> TFS 2012.3 --> TFS 2019, or from TFS 2010 --> TFS 2013.5 --> TFS 2019, you could consider trying to upgrade from TFS 2010 to TFS 2012.3 or TFS 2013.5 on the same Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise server, and then migrate to Windows Server 2019 Standard edition when upgrade to DevOps Server 2019.1.1(TFS 2019.1.1).

Answer 2

"Supported" means "tested and known to work". Later OS versions haven't been tested and may not work, or TFS may not even install in the first place.

I've done dozens of TFS upgrades in my day. My suggestion is to follow the documentation provided by Microsoft exactly. If an OS isn't listed as a supported OS, then don't use that OS.

Answer 3

So after much to-ing and fro-ing and numerous debates and suggestions from various sources on Stackoverflow, in the end this is how I managed to successfully complete my migration upgrade from TFS 2010 to Azure DevOps Server (TFS) 2019.1

There are however 5 very important points I wish to emphasise:

1. This was a complete migration upgrade (not an In-place upgrade) and so each move to a later TFS version was done using new/replacement hardware.
2. Both upgrades were done, based on the excellent YouTube tutorial by Mohamed Radwan which can be found here and relies heavily on the TFSBackup and TFSRestore utilities, both of which have shipped with all versions of TFS, I believe since the 2012 edition.
3. I only migrated the TfsConfiguration database and our Project database.
4. There was no migration of SharePoint.
5. There was no migration of Reporting Services.
6. We had no scheduled backups set up in the TFS 2010 Admin console.

TFS 2010 to TFS 2013 - Some Useful Points to Note

• The backup of my TFS 2010 databases were executed from the Tools directory of the TFS 2013 instance (once installed), on the new dedicated hardware for my app tier.
• Following a successful database restore using the TFSRestore utility, there are generally three key tasks required which use the TFSConfig tool to ensure data integrity between the two TFS instances aren't compromised or corrupted. These are the PrepareClone, ChangeServerID and RemapDB tasks executed in this same order.

The PrepareClone task failed when executed and after days of trying to troubleshoot the issue, I gave up in the end due mainly to the fact that the PrepareClone command removes information about scheduled backups, SharePoint, and Reporting resources from an Azure DevOps Server deployment and is used in two circumstances:

• When you move a deployment to new hardware but want to keep using the old deployment.

• When you clone an Azure DevOps Server deployment.

We didn't have any scheduled backups, SharePoint or Reporting Services included within the scope of our migration and were certainly not planning to keep using the old deployment long-term, except for a few days of validation and testing of the migration upgrade. As such, I ignored the error.

I was also counting on the fact that if the ChangeServerID command run successfully, this would ensure that the two instances were now discrete anyway, having been assigned unique GUIDs. Fortunately, the ChangeServerID task succeeded.

I also then executed the RemapDB command but in truth this wasn't even required as the ChangeServerID command had already completed the remapping task.

From this point on, the migration went like a dream and there was absolutely no issues encountered. Another key point to add, the backup of our TFS 2010 instance was done only after I'd ensured there was no user logged onto the system and following the backup, I took the 2010 instance completely offline.

TFS 2013 to Azure DevOps Server (TFS) 2019.1 - Some Useful Points to Note

• Again using the TFSBackup and TFSRestore utilities (this time from the Azure DevOps Server 2019.1 Tools directory) and pretty much repeating the steps for the previous migration upgrade, I managed to get us onto our target 2019 instance without single hitch.
• Even better, with Azure DevOps 2019, the TFSConfig PrepareClone, ChangeServerID and RemapDB tasks have been incorporated into the app tier configuration wizard, meaning you're not required to manually run them from the commandline. The tool takes care of it for you in its entirety, which is excellent!!
• The new Pre-Production Upgrade option enabled me to simulate and somehow perform a dry-run of the final upgrade, another excellent feature incorporated into the Server Configuration Wizard for Azure DevOps Server 2019.1

My Concluding Remarks

• Judging by how easy and simple it was to use, its heavy use of automation and clearly being far less likely to result in any disaster, I am rather surprised the TFSBackup and TFSRestore tools aren't recommended as perhaps the current best migration options, subject of course to the type of migration targeted.

• I have done TFS upgrades in the past which were based on the older process of quiescing the project collection, detaching and re-attaching the database(s) to the target instance, etc, etc and must admit there's hardly any chance I'd be going back to that in future if I can help it, as the TFSBackup and TFSRestore tools are a much, much better, safer and reliable option in my view.

Hopefully, this feedback will help the next person who may embark on a similar journey to upgrade TFS from the 2010 edition to a later version.