Sourceanywhere for VSS White Paper

PRESENTS... Speed Up Remote Access to SourceSafe 100 Times

This article focuses on the growing problem for development teams who try to use Microsoft® Visual SourceSafe™ (VSS) remotely. The paper will highlight the causes of this problem and reveal options to resolve the problem.

This document is written for IT developers who have team members working remotely and require remote access to source code. However, this paper is just as beneficial to those who make the buying decisions within the company since it will give them a better understand of the problems their developers are facing and the solution that could save time, energy, and budget.

Is my team facing "The Problem"?

In today's global development environment, "Already, more than 300 of the it is common for development teams to Fortune 500 firms do business require remote access. Software products with Indian IT services companies, are routinely built by distributed teams. according to Gartner. In addition, Whether developers on these teams are more than 40 percent of U.S. working from home, on a business trip, as corporations will have completed an outside contractor, or as part of a global some type of offshore IT pilot development team, they all need to access program". the same code base. Ed Frauenheim, News.com Microsoft Visual® SourceSafe™

Microsoft® Visual SourceSafe™ (VSS) is a popular source control package, and ideal for sharing code across a local area network. It provides essential source control functions and has excellent integration with Microsoft development solutions, "Visual SourceSafe is the ideal version control system for any development team using Microsoft Visual Studio .NET" (source: Microsoft MSDN).

SourceSafe was designed for small teams in a LAN environment. However, it has many problems in terms of performance, security and flexibility when used remotely over the Internet.

Slow Remote Access Performance

Over a slow Internet connection, VSS becomes almost unusable. SourceSafe could take more than 10 minutes to open a project or several minutes to check in a single file when it is used remotely over Internet.

However, when a company has remote developers, they need to be using a version control tool that has fast remote access so that they can access the files quick and efficiently. A developer’s time is expensive, and shouldn’t be wasted checking code in and out from the repository over a slow connection.

Poor Security "If I'm working here, and you are While people are a software company's working over there, and I make most valuable assets, source code is next changes, you need to know on the list. As development moves outside which version we are at, and if the LAN, security becomes a top priority either of us makes changes and since the code repository needs to be it disrupts the system, we need to protected from accidents as well as be able to go back out to the malevolent attacks. To share source code original version," he explains. files in SourceSafe you have to share the "Software change tools take on whole SourceSafe database folder, and, an extra importance in distributed when accessed remotely, this action development." exposes too much of your valuable data to the outside, which may potentially cause Matt Light, Gartner Analyst, the data to be stolen or damaged. Application Development Trends

Lack of Cross-Platform Support

VSS only supports the Windows platform and MSSCCI IDE integrations, making SourceSafe unviable when used in a diverse software development environment. This poses a major problem for developers who are working with different operating systems (such as Linux, Mac, or Solaris) or using different tools (i.e.: Eclipse, Macromedia Dreamweaver) and would prefer to have the flexibility to develop within the environment of their choice.

So, what are my options?

As distributed development becomes more and more popular, Microsoft Visual SourceSafe cannot meet a remote development team's need for performance, security, and multi-platform development. The alternatives include: a) increase the network speed, b) implement an alternative version control tool, or c) use a third-party VSS remote access add-on.

Increase Network Speed

One option is to have a faster network. By increasing the network speed, VSS becomes functional over the Internet. However, many developers are already accessing the Internet at maximum remote speed and their remote access to VSS is still too slow. Besides, this option does not fix the security and limited platform support inherited with VSS. Also, increasing network speed can be very costly to set up and, in many locations, there is no such infrastructure available to carry out this option.

Implement an Alternative Version Control Tool

Another alternative is implementing a completely new version control tool. By migrating to a different version control tool that is optimized for internal and remote access, the remote access problems will disappear. However, abandoning SourceSafe can be costly, unless the interface is similar which can reduce the learning curve. The alternative should also be as stable or preferably even more stable to ensure code integrity. Replacing VSS can mean incurring additional cost, which may or may not be justified, depending on the amount of remote access expected. Therefore, implementing a new tool could be costly, time intensive and may or may not be the best choice depending on your budget, time-frame, and remote access needs.

Use A Third-Party VSS Remote Access Add-On

The final and often more feasible option is to implement a third-party add-on utility. Instead of having to employ an entirely new version control system, the development team can install an add-on tool that increases the remote access performance and security of VSS. This will require less work by the development team in regards to learning a whole new system, as long as the learning curve for the add-on tool is low. Also, by choosing a remote access VSS add-on, your company can make the most of the initial investment of VSS. When choosing a third-party utility, developers will want to find a remote access solution that features fast performance, security, and multi-platform support.

The Technology

Dynamsoft’s SourceAnywhere for VSS is an add-on tool for SourceSafe. It is recommended by Microsoft as a remote access and cross platform solution to VSS. It was developed with four core objectives in mind:

1. Performance - To deliver the fastest remote access possible over TCP/IP. 2. Security - To apply a fail-safe approach to moving code assets across the Web. 3. Multi-Platform Support - To provide broad platform support and integrate with the industry's most popular OS and IDEs. 4. SourceSafe GUI Similarity – To ensure easy integration for developers

Performance – Optimized for the Web

• Up to 100 Times Faster Over the Web, SourceAnywhere for VSS can be up to 100 times faster than Visual SourceSafe.

• Delta Transfer SourceAnywhere for VSS offers 'delta transfer', where only the changes between two files or assets are passed to and from the code repository, maximizing speed and ensuring minimum bandwidth (and therefore a developer's time) is used in file transfer.

• Cache Server The newest version of SourceAnywhere for VSS also features an optional cache server specifically designed for geographically distributed teams. When a client needs to get or check out a file from the remote server, if the file is cached in the Cache Server, the Cache Server transfers the file to the client directly, without relaying the file transfer request via the remote server. The cache server handles processing and bandwidth requirements, reducing the burden on the central code repository. The number of files to be transferred over the Internet is significantly reduced, and the remote access performance is greatly improved.

Security – Protecting the Code Base

SourceAnywhere for VSS applies the following advanced security features to ensure your source code is safe:

• Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) Encryption This cryptographic protocol is the industry-wide standard for secure communications on the Internet. With the built-in CA (certificate authority), there is no extra cost to implement SSL.

• Blowfish Encryption One of the fastest cryptographic algorithms available, Blowfish minimizes the performance impact of encryption.

• Client-Server Architecture The VSS database folder is only exposed to the SourceAnywhere for VSS Server therefore removing the need to reveal the entire VSS database.

• Password Policy SourceAnywhere for VSS enables you to improve the security of your passwords by enforcing strong security policies such as password memory, complexity and expiration.

Multi-Platform Support – Remote Source Control for Your Needs

• Cross Platform In addition to SourceAnywhere for VSS's Windows client, there is a Java client that enables developers to access VSS repositories from Linux, Solaris, Apple, HP-UX, SCO Unix, FreeBSD or any operation system that supports the J2SE Java runtime environment.

• IDE Integration SourceAnywhere for VSS works with popular development environments, including Microsoft Visual Studio 6.0, Visual Studio .NET, Eclipse, Macromedia Dreamweaver, IBM Rational Rapid Developer and Borland Delphi 8.0. SourceAnywhere for VSS can integrate with any IDE that supports the Microsoft Source Code Control Interface (MSSCCI). SourceSafe Similarity – Easy Integration

• GUI SourceAnywhere for VSS's user interface is designed to resemble SourceSafe. This makes it easier for developers to integrate the SourceAnywhere for VSS workflow.

• Supports VSS Operations SourceAnywhere for VSS supports nearly all of SourceSafe’s local operations.

Conclusion

Extending access to source code beyond the LAN can be a risky proposition. However, with so many organizations moving to a distributed development model or even just needing casual remote access, it has now become a necessity to have remote access to source control. SourceAnywhere for VSS provides a fast, reliable and secure application that answers all of the demands of a distributed software engineering team. With SourceAnywhere for VSS, you can spread your development team across the globe, let them work from home, or even outsource work and be confident that your SourceSafe repository is always accessible and safe.

In addition, Dynamsoft has a SourceSafe replacement solution, called SourceAnywhere Standalone. Based on SQL Server, SourceAnywhere Standalone is designed as an alternative to Microsoft Visual SourceSafe for developers who are ready to migrate away from VSS for increased performance, security, scalability, and reliability. Also, Dynamsoft has a hosted edition of SourceAnywhere Standalone, called SourceAnywhere Hosted. A free hosting plan is available.

We invite you to learn more about SourceAnywhere for VSS, SourceAnywhere Standalone or SourceAnywhere Hosted. For more information, please go to http://www.dynamsoft.com/products/saw_wp3.aspx

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