R – Build servers and source control repositories

build-processcruisecontrol.netsvn

We're using CruiseControl.NET for our build server and Subversion for source control. Our IT guy suggested putting these together on one virtual machine. For some reason that smells funny to me, but I can't explain why. It seems like the source control server is a lot less "transient" of a server than a build server. Does anyone else feel uncomfortable with this idea, and perhaps explain why?

I realize VM's are cheap; there are other considerations here that I'm not explaining. The scope of this question is: is there anything suboptimal or risky about putting a build server and source control server on one box?

Best Answer

Your Subversion repository holding machine should be treated with great respect given the central position it holds within a development environment. It should have as little change going on as possible to ensure stability.

A build server can have a degree of churn as different projects are built, workloads change, and the number of people logging onto it can be far higher than a repository server would normally see.

I wouldn't want to combine functions if at all possible, for an IT person it may appear that tin is being underused, but it's a security separation that is important for a controlled development environment.