Installing Azure DevOps Server 2019 RC1 on my laptop

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Since this is my first post of 2019 I decided to post about my experiences installing Azure DevOps Server 2019 RC1 on my laptop, within a virtual machine.

To clarify, Azure DevOps Server 2019 is the new name for TFS. Furthermore, it’s now rebranded and updated to look and feel like the Azure DevOps service. Which is the new name for Visual Studio team Services (VSTS) in Azure.

Therefore, I decided to do this because I am currently involved with Azure DevOps and using it with SQL Server deployments. Hence, I decided I wanted a local copy of my own to test things.

Building the Virtual Machine

Firstly, I created a new Virtual machine in Hyper-V. I kept it at minimum specs because the laptop I was using was only a standard spec one. Afterwards I added my VM to my internal Domain that I configured within Hyper-V.

After that I added a second adapter to be an external network to avoid any issues during the installation. If this concept is new to you I will cover it in a later post.

Prerequisites

So, I then quickly skimmed the prerequisites. I noticed that SQL Server on Linux is not supported yet. Honestly, I find that a bit strange considering the big interest to use it.

In addition, I saw the latest released versions of SQL Server and Reporting Services were supported.

Assumptions

After seeing the latest versions of SQL Server and Reporting Services were supported I made a couple of assumptions. First one was that since SQL Server 2016 and 2017 were supported so would SQL Server 2019.

Secondly, I assumed that since latest version of Reporting Services was supported Power BI Reporting Services would also be supported. I assumed this mostly because companies are deploying that as an alternative now.

Result

So, I installed SQL Server 2019 and Power BI reporting Services. I then installed Azure DevOps Server 2019 which went well, until I started using the configuration wizard and was presented with the below.

As you can see my assumptions didn’t quite go to plan. However, you never know until you try. Afterwards, I went through and installed the versions in the prerequisites and got the install to work.

After the install was completed I removed the external network adapter from my Virtual Machine. I then added an internal network adapter so that I could use my browser locally to connect to Azure DevOps Server.

GIT

After doing this I had to change the firewall inside my Virtual machine to allow my local machine to connect to Azure DevOps server through my browser. After doing this I attempted to upload a GIT repository onto it.

However, I first experienced authentication issues. Now you might have seen online that the best way to fix this is to clear the credential cache.

In my case this was not the case. Instead, I had to go into credential manager and add the credentials for the local domain running inside my Virtual machine environment.

Once that was done I was able to upload my repository into Azure DevOps Server.

Couple of other points

Now for those wanting to do an offline installation you can download the full ISO for RC1 here.

Now I did my initial install manually as it’s hopefully only a one off as I’m using it as a test area for an existing Azure DevOps environment.

However, you can do an unattended install. To view the parameters run ‘devopsserver2019_rc1.exe /?’ either in command prompt or in Powershell.

Final word

Well so far dealing with Azure DevOps Server 2019 RC1 has been an interesting experience. Feel free to share your experiences with it here.