Licensing needs for Team Build Server
I decided to write a short post about licensing of Team Build Server environments because I was asked several times in the past. There’s a good chapter in the Team System Licensing Guide which explains it in detail.
If you want to run Static Code Analysis or automated Tests you need to install Visual Studio Team System on the build server. For this Team System installation you don’t need any additional licenses as far as your developers have an appropriate license to do the specific task (extract from Licensing Guide):
| Team Member Actions | Licensing Implications |
| Developer checks-in source code. | Team Foundation Sever CAL required. |
| Developer defines a team build type to include any of: - Unit Testing - Code Coverage - Code Analysis |
Team Edition for Developers or Team Suite is required. |
| Tester defines a team build type to include any of: - Generic Testing - Web Testing - Load Testing - Manual Testing |
Team Edition for Testers or Team Suite is required. |
| Team member initiates a build. | Team Foundation Sever CAL required. |
Conclusion:
If you (=developer) only have a Developer Edition installed and queue a new Team Build, you don’t need any additional licenses. Only if you want to modify or create such a build definition.
The build server do not need any licenses (included in Team Foundation License), only the developers who working on it!
There are some changes in the newer version of the licensing guide: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=CE194742-A6E8-4126-AA30-5C4E969AF2A3&displaylang=en
What’s different to my posts info: Normal unit testing does not need a Team Edition anymore.