OpsHub Visual Studio Online Migration Utility

I recently got to use OpsHub Visual Studio Online Migration Utility to help the client move from on premises TFS environment into the awesomeness of Visual Studio Online. OpsHub Visual Studio Online Migration Utility is actually pretty good and solid tool. The migration was very smooth and relatively painless. I thought I share some of the things I have come across when using VSO using OpsHub Visual Studio Online Migration Utility:

  • OpsHub Visual Studio Online Migration Utility is free and can be downloaded from Visual Studio Gallery here (http://aka.ms/OpsHubVSOMigrationUtility)
  • OpsHub Visual Studio Online Migration Utility can only be installed on 64 bit Windows machine
  • During the installation, you will be required to fill out the registration info. Please make sure that you have provided a valid email address since you will need a verification code to proceed with the installation that will be sent to the email address you provide during the install. Usually, it takes a couple of minutes for an email to come through. Check your Spam folder in case if the email was mislabeled by your spam filter
  • If you are using proxy servers to connect to the internet, you will need to do the following http://opshub.com/main/index.php/ovsomu-proxy to get the installer working. Please note that even if you follow the instructions, and even if you get passed the registration page to next page (Verify Email page), which to a normal person mean that the registration process was successful and that you should receive verification email, it does not necessarily mean that you will get an email. The reason for it could be that your proxy is blocking the installation wizard from sending the registration info to Opshub. Very frustrating. As a workaround, you can run the installation wizard on any other machine that is not going through the proxy, fill out the registration email, wait for an email, then use the verification code that you have received to install OpsHub Visual Studio Online Migration Utility on any other machine in your network. From what I can tell, verification code is not tied to machine that you're installing on in any way
  • If you have installed OpsHub Visual Studio Online Migration Utility while your machine was going through the proxy to get to the internet, and then managed to convinced your IT to allow you to bypass proxy, you will need to uninstall OpsHub Visual Studio Online Migration Utility, remove any changes you've made as per http://opshub.com/main/index.php/ovsomu-proxy and then reinstall OpsHub Visual Studio Online Migration Utility. Sounds silly, but it's true. By the way, I strongly recommend that you spent some time and convince your IT to allow the machine that is running OpsHub Visual Studio Online Migration Utility to bypass the proxy, it just makes things a lot easier. Especially when you start configuring the migrations.
  • Before you start configuring migrations, you will need to:
    • Pre-create empty team projects (with matching process templates) for the team projects that you will be migrating from on premises TFS
    • Add users to your Visual Studio Online account and grant them some permissions on the team projects. One of the steps in configuring the migrations is map local users to VSO users, so you'll need users to be in place before you start the migration
    • Add VSO account that you will be using to migrate to Project Collection Service Accounts group in VSO
  • Remember that you can migrate one project a time. You don't have to move the entire project collection from on premises to VSO
  • If you're migrating work items then you might have to deal with template discrepancies. Be patient.
  • OpsHub Visual Studio Online Migration Utility is provided by a company called OpsHub, Microsoft partner. Their support is pretty good. You can reach them via email ovsmy@opshub.com or via StackOverflow using hashtags #opshub and #visual-studio-online. Please keep in mind that the company is located in California, USA, and take into account the time difference when awaiting a response.

That's all.