Team Foundation Server
Visual Studio Team System (VSTS) uses Team Foundation Server (TFS) as the data storage and collaboration backend. TFS provides a source control repository, work item tracking and reporting services. TFS works on "work items", which are a single unit of work which needs to be completed. Items themselves can be of several different types, such as a Bug, a Task, a Quality of Service Requirement, a Scenario, and so forth. The framework chosen for any given project in a TFS defines what types of work items are available and what attributes each type of work item contains.
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TFS source control system stores all code, as well as a record of all changes and current check-outs in a SQL Server database. It supports features such as multiple simultaneous check-outs, conflict resolution, branching and merging, and the ability to set security levels on any level of a source tree. TFS uses SQL Server Reporting Service to create reports including the rate of code change over time, lists of bugs that don't have test cases, regressions on previously passing tests, and so on. The reports can be in various formats including XML and PDF.
TFS also includes a build server which can be used by developers to do a complete build of the most recent bits contained in source control. All build events are tracked by TFS as well. Visual Studio's Code Analysis, Test Tools and Code Coverage can be enabled to validate a build before it is deemed to be "good".
VSTS integrates with TFS using the TFS Client API, to expose the capabilities of TFS from within the Integrated Development Environment (IDE). It includes the Team Explorer to browse and manage the items in a team project. The version control capabilities, including browsing individual revisions, labeling revisions, check in/out and shelving in/out are available from the main IDE itself, via the Source Control Explorer. VSTS can use the TFS Team Build system, instead of the integrated build system. The VSTS IDE can also be used to view and create analysis reports in TFS as well. The Source Control Explorer can also be used to create and merge branches of the software. It also includes a diff engine for viewing the differences between different files and revisions.
Team Test Load Agent
In addition to Team Foundation Server, Microsoft also offers a server component called Team Test Load Agent. This tool, which is licensed separately from Team Foundation Server and Visual Studio, is intended for use by testers to perform automated load testing on a web or Windows application. Microsoft advertises that a "typical PC" can support simulating 1,000 simultaneous users. The results of load tests are stored in the Team Foundation Server warehouse, and can be linked to specific builds so that performance testing can be tracked over the lifetime of a project
Visual Studio Integration
The client-side applications are specialized versions of Microsoft Visual Studio 2005; collectively they are called the Visual Studio Team Editions. When Visual Studio 2005 was launched in November 2005, this consisted of editions for three distinct roles in application development: Developers, Architects, and Testers. A fourth edition, targeted at Database Developers, was subsequently developed and released towards the end of 2006. A "Team Suite" edition of Visual Studio 2005 is also available, which combines the tools in each of these four roles.
Team Explorer is a component included with Team Foundation Server that provides the client-side tools and integration. More specifically, this adds Team Foundation Server as a source control provider, and adds a "Team Explorer" window alongside the standard "Solution Explorer" window. Team Explorer includes a license for Visual Studio 2005 Premier Partner Edition for those without Visual Studio 2005 for the exclusive use of Team Explorer's functionality