TFS Deployment – Using a Build Process Template for Deployment

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I'm thinking of using TFS Build workflows for complex deployments. We have some that may need to deploy:

  1. Web applications and services
  2. Database
  3. SSRS Reports
  4. SSIS Packages
  5. Who knows what else

I like the fact that I can give the workflow some basic parameters like which build to deploy and it would just run. Potentially, some parts might need human approval, and I know that workflow can handle that too. An example is that we might use the workflow to create a change script from our Visual Studio Database Projects, but the DBA group will want to approve the script before it is run.

I'm interested to know whether others have used "builds" for this in the past, and what problems were found.

Best Answer

We've used TFS to trigger our builds but used msbuild to build our projects. The main advantage is that we have a build script that we can change an keep under version control. Thing is with workflows e.g. : how are you going to build an older version of your project? With a build script you just get the older version from source control and off you go. It's also nice to be able to fiddle around with it and switch different options on/off.

If you're dead certain you have a fixed build cycle, then you probably can pull it off, otherwise having a script is probably the safer and more felxible option.

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