ZDS

SourceSafe Information

Successful administration means putting both procedures and tools in place. Here we'll deal with setting up the process.

The tools you'll need are the subject of a separate article : SourceSafe Tools.

#1 on your priority list is setting up an overnight audit to check the health of the database and email you the results every morning. You'll need tools to follow up on problems.

Tuning the database server for optimum performance is next. Chuck Kollar's excellent site has guidelines on this.

Obsolete stuff will eventually make it hard to see the forest from the trees unless you pro-actively manage this. Analysis and repair run times will also increase. The tool set ssdir utility can help to identify obsolete projects.

Users routinely delete projects and files all the time. Deleted projects and files are out of sight, but not out of the database. To manage disk space you need to purge deleted files periodically.

People leave and leave files checked out. Not only are the files not accessible to other users, but the working copy they have on their hard disc may well have been modified. Before their PC gets wiped would be a good time to check in any changed files. Monitoring this weekly is indicated.

The ssadmin program's main function is to set rights for users to access parts of the SourceSafe tree. Unfortunately SourceSafe does not automatically remove user rights to deleted projects, so you end up with user rights to projects that no longer exist.

#1 on this list is communication with the user base. Setting up a SourceSafe page on your Intranet is a good way to go about this. Articles on the following topics are indicated...

You need to set some basic rules for the user community on how to name Projects and Files in the SourceSafe tree unless you want the database to develop like an old sock drawer.

How to Get and Checkout by Label. If your SourceSafe database is used for software development then the concept of labelling files needs to be communicated and made mandatory! No label, no build.

How to limit use of temporary space on the server. The client Visual SourceSafe Explorer (ssexp.exe) setup very unfortunately defaults to designating the server as the the place to use for work space. Catch new users at setup time and have them designate their local disk instead. This will reduce network traffic and your space management problem.

SourceSafe Best Practices. The Microsoft Visual Sourcesafe site has an article on best practices which is definitely a must read. It outlines recommended practices to help prevent data corruption in Microsoft® Visual SourceSafe®. Includes a discussion on the data repair Analyze tool that ships with the product. Covers: General Database Recommendations, How Visual SourceSafe Tracks Files, Finding and Repairing Data Corruption, Backup and Restore, Article Reference...