Can I use a Build Computer ?

The TFS Hosting Service allows me to configure a Build Computer, i.e. a computer with Team Foundation Build installed? If yes, it should be configured by you (perhaps at an addtional price) or I can configure one my computer to do this? (and how?)
Thanks,
leonardo Blanchi

 

For the record I am a build / install guy with 15 years experience and I happen to run my own TFS at home ( thanks MSDN license and cheaper Hyper-V hardware ).

Still, it's alot to care and feed so I'd be interested in a TFS SaaS model. I'd be interested in providing that model myself one day except that I realize it's a lot of work to encapsulate all of this into a control panel and commoditize it like you guys have done.

Still, the thing that holds me back from moving my projects and repurposing my own server is that I would need to be able to have some sort of build agent solution. Desktop builds don't cut it for me IMO. I want to be able to queue a build up and have it happen on a clean machine.

It seems like there is money to be made out there by taking the TFS SaaS and blending it with a Profressional Services model but of course I haven't studied the business model or come up with my own plan.

So anyways, consider that my +1 for a build agent feature.

 

Thanks. We are currently doing some testing around the possibility of offering build server with TFS. It's a distinct possibility that we will do so in the near future. I couldn't say when exactly, or even if, exactly, but I can tell you that we are actively looking in to it at this time.

 

I can understand it's a complicated thing to tackle. Different software baselines can be very different and what you are effectivly doing is saying you are allowed to run (build) jobs on our backend and that has security risks onto itself.

So there are difficulties with provisioning / managing the build configuration, integrating it with TFS and allowing FTP / VPN access to move builds out of the network. All while trying to meter the usage and encapsulate it into a control panel applet.

Yah, I get it. Guess that's why no one is doing it.

 

I see there is now a solution but I don't see many details. Is it a shared build machine or is it managed? Can a customer logon to the build machine and install components such as InstallShield stand alone build?

Can the drop location be set to a directory such as DropBox for syncronizing to developers locations for testing drops?

And any other questions that I should be asking.